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The H-Y antigen and its role in natural transplantation

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Summary

A concise overview of the transplantation biology of the H-Y antigen is presented with particular reference to: its prototypic behavior as a weak transplantation antigen; the facility with which mice of certain inbred strains can be rendered tolerant of H-Y incompatible skin grafts; its capacity to instigate graft-versus-host reactions; its significance in clinical transplantation; and finally, H-2 control of anti-H-Y immune responses.

The role of the H-Y antigen in natural transplantation, i.e. pregnancy, is then reviewed. Evidence is presented to support the hypothesis that in certain cases maternal immune responses directed specifically to the H-Y antigen can exert selective pressures on male zygotes, producing deviant sex ratios in certain experimental and clinical situations.

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  1. Department of Cell Biology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Dallas, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, 75235, Dallas, TX, USA

    Rupert E. Billingham & Ingrid M. Hings

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  1. Rupert E. Billingham
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  2. Ingrid M. Hings
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Billingham, R.E., Hings, I.M. The H-Y antigen and its role in natural transplantation. Hum Genet 58, 9–17 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00284141

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