Maternal modification of tissue antigenicity and the histocompatibility-2 (H-2) locus.

Differences in time of onset and severity of the secondary disease syndrome produced by the graft-versus-host reaction occurred in lethally irradiated reciprocal hybrid mice inoculated with bone marrow from parental strains of different H-2 genotypes. A less severe graft-versus-host reaction occurred when the marrow donor strain was syngeneic with the maternal strain of the hybrid. Differences in the survival pattern after inoculation of marrow from either parental strain were attributed to the quantitative difference in antigenicity control by the H-2 locus. The difference in the survival pattern between lethally irradiated reciprocal hybrid recipients inoculated with marrow of the same parental strain was attributed to reduced antigenicity as a result of a maternal modification of expression of paternally derived tissue antigens occurring during fetal development.