H-Y antigen in XO mice

We examined the expression of H-Y antigen in 14 XO female mice using three monoclonal H-Y-specific antibodies. We found that spleen and liver cells from XO mice removed the reactivity of these antibodies at the same efficacy as XY cells. However radiobinding assays on cultured XO cells suggested a qualitative or quantitative difference between XO and XY cells. In cell-mediated cytolysis (CMC), H-Y-specific reactivity was observed when XO fibroblasts were used as targets, but no reactivity was observed when XO concanavalin A (Con A) blasts were used as targets. We concluded from these studies that XO mice do express H-Y antigen, detected both by serologic assays and cell-mediated assays.