The effect of allogeneic presensitization on H-Y graft survival and in vitro cell-mediated responses to H-y antigen

C57BL/6 and C57BL/10 female mice were grafted with skin from male or female donors incompatible for H-2 and/or non-H-2 antigens. Syngeneic male grafts applied after the rejection of primary allografts or syngeneic male grafts were rejected in accelerated (second set) fashion, whereas male grafts applied after primary female grafts were not. In addition, C57BL/10 female spleen cells, primed in vivo with an allogeneic (BALB/c, CBA, or B10.BR) male graft and challenged in vitro in mixed lymphocyte culture with syngeneic (C57BL/10) male cells, produced cytotoxic cells specific for syngeneic male target cells. We conclude that at least some component of H-Y is detected by female responder cells on allogeneic male cells, and that the second set cell mediated response to H-Y is not necessarily restricted by the H-2 haplotype of the primary sensitizing strain. Moreover, (CBA X B10) F1 females, primed in vivo with male cells of one parental haplotype (B10 or CBA) and challenged in vitro with male cells of the other parental haplotype (CBA or B10), fail to lyse male target cells of either parental haplotype. It therefore seems unlikely that a helper determinant shared between B10 and CBA is sufficient to explain the ability of CBA male cells to prime H-2-restricted T-cell cytotoxic responses by B10 females.