Evidence of H-Y antigen on human B lymphocytes

H-Y antigen was studied in human peripheral blood lymphocytes from male and female subjects by indirect immunofluorescence. In males, 20% of lymphocytes were found to be H-Y+, compared with 9% in females. B- and T-cell-enrichment analysis showed a close correlation between the male B-lymphocyte count and the H-Y+-cell count. The method described is particularly applicable to the measurement of H-Y antigen in cases of ambiguous sex differentiation since it offers direct demonstration of H-Y antigen in the cells of the individual under examination.