Cytotoxic T-cell response to H-Y antigen by B6.C-H-2bm12 and B10.BR mice.

Cytotoxic T-cell response to the male-specific histocompatibility antigen (H-Y) is often used as an experimental model for studying the genetic control of the immune response. This anti-H-Y response is shown to be a complex one, with multicellular interactions involving genes of the H-2 complex, and also some genes unlinked to H-2. For the analysis of the genetic control of the anti-H-Y immune response, different inbred strains have been used and classified accordingly as responders or non-responders. During the authors' studies of the genetic control of the immune response, some of the strains described as non-responders were found to behave as responders, namely strains B6.C-H-2bm12 and B10.BR. This finding has added to the intricacy of current data on the genetic control of immune response to H-Y antigen.