Expression of cell-defined H-Y antigen on mouse epidermal cells.
Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL)5 of female origin that readily lysed syngeneic male lymphoid cells in specific, dose-dependent, H-2 restricted fashion had little or no activity against syngeneic male epidermal cells (EC) in short-term or long-term chromium-release assays. Moreover, although male EC were quite capable of priming syngeneic female lymphocytes in vivo for the accelerated rejection of male-specific skin grafts and for the subsequent generation of H-Y-specific CTL by exposure of primed female spleen cells (SC) to irradiated, syngeneic male SC in vitro, male EC themselves were incapable of stimulating the development of H-Y CTL when cocultured with primed female SC. Tests of EC from reciprocal male-female radiation chimeras revealed that keratinocytes, not marrow-derived EC (Langerhans cells), were responsible for the priming ability of EC in vivo. Moreover, H-Y antigen was serologically defined on EC that failed to express H-Y-specific CTL target-cell determinants. Alternative explanations of these findings are discussed, including the possibility that the inability of H-2-restricted T cells to lyse male EC results from the lack of association of H-Y antigen and H-2 restricting elements on the EC membrane.
D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003601:Cytotoxicity Tests, Immunologic; D004817:Epidermis / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006084:Graft Rejection; D006183:H-2 Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D006182:H-Y Antigen / Q000276:immunology*; D007801:Langerhans Cells / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D016038:Skin Transplantation; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology
D006183:H-2 Antigens; D006182:H-Y Antigen