Forssman haptens

F. E. Brunius, Chemical Studies on the True Forssman Haptene, etc., Stockholm (1936). 

Immunochemical Studies on the Combining Sites of Forssman Hapten Reactive Hemagglutinins from Dolichos biflorus, Helix pomatia, and Wistaria floribunda, D. A. Baker, S. Sugii, E. A. Kabat, R. M. Ratcliffe, P. Hermentin, and R. U. Lemieux, Biochemistry, 22 (1983) 2741-2750. 

Only small amounts of globoside and Forssman hapten were found in the glycolipid fraction from hamster cell lines and their polyoma transformant. ... 

When rabbits are injected with other animal tissue, the Forssman haptens are produced. These are able to lyse erythrocytes from sheep (Forssman 1911). One of these Forssman haptens is a ceramide linked to galactose and galactosamine (Papirmeister et al. 1955). The structure of these haptens leaves the question open whether they arise from ceramide polyhexosides, e.g. globosides, by degradation. It should be mentioned that the only noncarbohydrate lipid with haptogenic properties is cardiolipin. The question whether this haptogenic property is due to the free OH-group remains to be answered. 

Papirmeister, B., and M. F. Mallette The isolation and some properties of the Forssman hapten from sheep erythrocytes. Arch. Biochem. 67, 94 (1955). 

Graf, L., and M. M. Rapport Immunochemical studies of organ and tumor lipids. VII. The reactivity of anti-human tumor sera with cytolipin H. cardiolipin, and forssman haptens. Cancer Res. 20, 546 (1960). 

An enzyme that cleaved the terminal, non-reducing 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-a-D-galactopyranosyl residue from Forssman hapten (4) has been detected in... 

Membrane-bound 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-a- and -)8-D-galactosyltransferases from guinea-pig microsomes were able to catalyse the formation of the nonreducing, terminal residues of Forssman hapten and globoside, respectively. The enzymes can be readily differentiated, since the a-transferase is inhibited, and the -transferase is stimulated, by UDP UDP-D-glucose can suppress both a-transferase and pyrophosphatase activities. 

The terminal, non-reducing 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-a-D-galactopyranosyl residue of a Forssman hapten can be oxidized by D-galactose oxidase. Reduction of the oxidized residue with sodium borotritide gave (34). o-Galactosyl- and lactosyl-ceramides, asialo-GMi-ganglioside, and GM,-ganglioside were also labelled... 

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