heterophileadj.n.

1920 Jrnl. Pathol. & Bacteriol. 23 366 The term heterogenetic is not altogether appropriate in this connection, since the important character is not that the antibody is gererated by a different kind of antigen, but that it has an affinity for receptors of a species other than that in response to which it was developed, heterophile describes this property better.

1929 W. W. C. Topley & G. S. Wilson Princ. Bacteriol. & Immunity II. li. 748 It is now known that the so-called ‘heterophile’, or ‘Forssman’ antigen..is widely distributed among the animal species which have been examined, and in a curiously random fashion.

1935 Arch. Pathol. 19 841 Heterophile phenomena embrace those immunologic reactions in which the interaction of antigen and antibody is seemingly not specific in the strictly orthodox conception of the term.

1950 J. V. Dacie Pract. Hæmatol. xi. 150 The limits of the titre of heterophile antibodies present in health are ill-defined.

1960 I. A. Stanton Dict. for Med. Secretaries 70/2 Heterophile agglutination test.., a method of testing for the presence of infectious mononucleosis. The blood of patients with this disease contains antibodies for the red blood cells of sheep.

1938 H. Downey Handbk. Hematol. I. ii. 167 The special or ‘heterophile’ leucocytes of the animals commonly used in experimental research resemble the human neutrophile quite closely in size and morphology, but with slight variations in nuclei, and in the size and staining of the specific granules which make them distinctive.

1941 G. N. Calkins & F. M. Summers Protozoa in Biol. Res. xviii. 835 The heterophils are functional in immunity by virtue of their obvious phagocytic activities and probably because of their secretion of enzymes.

1965 P. D. Sturkie Avian Physiol. (ed. 2) i. 13 The heterophils in the blood of children are usually round and have a diameter of approximately 10 to 15 microns.