Male-specific transplantation antigen expression by XY teratocarcinomas PCC7 and 7'.

Male-specific antigen expression by XY teratocarcinomas PCC7 and 7' is demonstrated first by the rejection of tumors by female but not by male mice following challenge with these cell lines. Male-specific antigen expression is confirmed by an indirect method in which females are immunized against H-Y antigen by male skin grafts. A variant of PCC7 lacking male-specific antigen expression is described. Analysis of the karyotype and of the DNA from this variant indicate that the loss of male-specific antigen expression is a result of the loss of the Y chromosome. The ability to recover variants that have lost expression of male-specific antigen opens the possibility of their selection after mutagenesis.