Anti‐H‐Y responses of H‐2b mutant mice

Abstract

Two strains of H‐2^b mutant mice, H‐2^ba and H‐2^bf, in which the mutational event took place at H‐2K, make anti‐H‐Y cytotoxic T cell responses which are H‐2‐restricted, D^b‐associated and indistinguishable in target cell specificity from those of H‐2^b mice. Thus, alteration of the H‐2K molecule affects neither the Ir gene controlling the response, nor the associative antigen. On the other hand, one H‐2D^b mutant strain, H‐2^bo, although it makes a good anti‐H‐Y cytotoxic response, shows target cell specificity restricted to its own D^bo antigen(s), and neither H‐2^b, H‐2^ba or H‐2^bf anti‐H‐Y cytotoxic cells kill H‐2^bo male target cells. Thus, the alteration of the H‐2D^b molecule does not affect the Ir gene of H‐2^b mice, but it does alter the H‐2D^b‐associative antigen.