Host sex-dependent growth of potential Thy-1+ lymphoma cells that appear in the thymus of X-irradiated NFS mice.

During the course of studies designed to detect potentially leukemic cells in radiation lymphomagenesis, using an opposite-sex (male----female) transplantation assay method, we previously found that potential Thy-1- lymphoma cells are generated in the bone marrow of NFS mice exposed to a split-dose irradiation (1.7 Gy X 4), while potential Thy-1+ lymphoma cells are not detectable. In this report, using a (female----male) intrathymic transplantation assay system we show that potential Thy-1+ lymphoma cells were generated in the thymus of female NFS mice exposed to split-dose irradiation, and reconfirm that such cells were not detected in the (male----female) transplantation system. These results demonstrate that the detection of potential Thy-1+ lymphoma cells strictly depends on the transplantation system.