Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A proposed growth regulatory function for the serologically detectable sex-specific antigen H-Ys

  • Review Article
  • Published:
Human Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

It is widely believed that the serologically detectable sex-specific antigen H-Ys plays a major role in the primary determination of sex. The cellular distribution of the antigen, however, seems to be at odds with its postulated function. Consideration of this apparent paradox has prompted the suggestion that the H-Ys antigen functions as a growth regulator, and that its role in the primary determination of sex can be accounted for on this basis. Circumstantial evidence is adduced that H-Ys is a growth regulator in the embryo, and this is supported by evidence from several sources not immediately related to embryonic growth or development. Genes coding for growth regulators can function as oncogenes in situations involving disordered regulation, and it is suggested that this accounts for the high incidence of ovarian neoplasms in H-Ys positive, but not in H-Ys negative, female patients with 46,XY gonadal dysgenesis (Swyer's syndrome). A postulated growth regulatory function of H-Ys lends weight to the contention of others, not only that the direction of differentiation of the indifferent gonad in the embryo is determined by its growth rate, but also that a common mechanism underlies genotypic sex determination and environmental sex determination.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Amice V, Amice J, Bercovici J-P, Riviere D, Corolleur M-J (1986) Gonadal tumour and H-Y antigen in 46,XY pure gonadal dysgenesis. Cancer 57:1313–1317

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett D (1975) The T-locus of the mouse. Cell 6:441–454

    Google Scholar 

  • Biggers JD, Whitten WK, Whittingham DG (1971) The culture of mouse embryos in vitro. In: Daniel JC (ed) Methods in mammalian embryology. Freeman, San Francisco, pp 91–92

    Google Scholar 

  • Billingham RE, Silvers WK (1960) Studies on tolerance of the Y chromosome antigen in mice. J Immunol 85:14–16

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bottazzo GF, Drexhage HA, Khoury El (1982) Thyroid antibodies in thyroid disease. In: Evered D, Whelan J (eds) Receptors, antibodies and disease. (Ciba foundation symposium 90) Pitman, London, pp 153–177

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradley MP, Heslop BF (1985) Elicitation of a rapid and transient antibody response to H-Y antigen by intrasplenic immunization. Transplantation 39:634–638

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley MP, Heslop BF (1988) The distribution of sex-specific (H-Y) antigens within the seminiferous tubules of the testis: an immunohistochemical study. Hum Genet 79:347–351

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley MP, Ebensperger C, Wiberg UH (1987) Determination of the serological sex-specific (Sxs) antigen (“H-Y antigen”) in birds and mammals using high-titre antisera and a sensitive urease ELISA. Hum Genet 76:351–356

    Google Scholar 

  • Bull JJ (1983) Evolution of sex determining mechanisms. Benjamin/Cummings, London, pp 109–127

    Google Scholar 

  • Burgess A (1985) Growth factors and oncogenes. Immunol Today 6: 107–112

    Google Scholar 

  • Colb M, Krontiris TG (1986) Oncogenes. Adv Intern Med 31:47–70

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Conover DO, Heins SW (1987) Adaptive variation in environmental, and genetic sex determination in a fish. Nature 326:496–498

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Crichton DN, Steel CM (1985) Serologically detectable H-Y (‘male’) antigen: mr or myth? Immunol Today 6:202–203

    Google Scholar 

  • Eichwald EJ, Silmser CR (1955) Untitled communication. Transplant Bull 2:148–149

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein CJ, Smith S, Travis B (1980) Expression of H-Y antigen on pre-implantation mouse embryos. Tissue Antigens 15:63–67

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson MWJ (1988) Environmental regulation of sex determination in reptiles. Philos Trans R Soc Lond [Biol] (in press)

  • Freudenberger CB (1932) A comparison of the Wistar albino and the Long-Evans hybrid strain of the Norway rat. Am J Anat 50:293–349

    Google Scholar 

  • Freundlich B, Bomalaski JS, Neilson E, Jimenez SA (1986) Regulation of fibroblast proliferation and collagen synthesis by cytokines. Immunol Today 7:303–307

    Google Scholar 

  • Gill TJ, Kunz HW, Misra DN, Cortese Hassett AL (1987) The major histocompatibility complex of the rat. Transplantation 43:773–785

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg EH, Boyse EA, Bennett D, Scheid M, Carswell EA (1971) Serological demonstration of H-Y (male) antigen on mouse sperm. Nature 232:478–480

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg EH, Shen F, Tokuda S (1973) Detection of H-Y (male) antigen on mouse lymph node cells by the cell to cell cytotoxicity test. Transplantation 15:334–336

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goodfellow PN, Andrews PW (1982) Sexual differentiation and H-Y antigen. Nature 295:11–13

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guyton AC (1986) Textbook of medical physiology, 7th edn. Saunders, Philadelphia, pp 847–848

    Google Scholar 

  • Heslop BF (1973) The male antigen in the rat. Transplantation 15: 31–35

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heslop BF, Lyttle VA (1976) Hyperplasia of donor cells in rejecting weakly antigenic skin grafts. Proc R Soc Lond [Biol] 193:209–215

    Google Scholar 

  • Iwata H, Nagai Y, Stapleton DD, Smith RC, Ohno S (1979) Identification of human H-Ys antigen and its testis organizing function. Arthritis Rheum 22:1211–1216

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Klein J, Figueroa F, Klein D (1982) H-2 haplotypes, genes and antigens; second listing. I. Non-H-2 loci on chromosome 17. Immunogenetics 16:285–317

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Koo GC (1981) Serology of H-Y antigen. Hum Genet 58:18–20

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kralova J, Demant P (1976) Expression of the H-Y antigen in thymus cells and skin: differential genetic control to the K end of H-2. Immunogenetics 3:585–594

    Google Scholar 

  • Krco CJ, Goldberg EH (1976) H-Y (male) antigen: detection on 8-cell mouse embryos. Science 193:1134–1135

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lau Y-F (1987) Localization of a gene for the male enhanced antigen on human and mouse chromosomes. In: Haseltine FP, McClure ME, Goldberg EH (eds) Genetic markers of sex differentiation. Plenum Press, New York, pp 161–167

    Google Scholar 

  • Lau Y-F (1988) Is male-enhanced antigen and serological H-Y antigen the same? In: Wachtel SS (ed) Evolutionary mechanisms in sex determination. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fla (in press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Lau Y-F, Chan K, Kan YW, Goldberg E (1986) Isolation of a malespecific and conserved gene using an anti-H-Y antibody. Am J Hum Genet [Suppl]39:A142

  • Lyon MF (1981) The t-complex and the genetic control of development. Symp Zool Soc Lond 47:455–477

    Google Scholar 

  • Melvold RW, Kohn HI, Yerganian G, Fawcett DW (1977) Evidence suggesting the existence of two H-Y antigens. Immunogenetics 5: 33–41

    Google Scholar 

  • Metcalf D (1987) The molecular control of normal and leukaemic granulocytes and macrophages. Proc R Soc Lond [Biol] 230:389–423

    Google Scholar 

  • Mittwoch U (1969) Do genes determine sex? Nature 221:446–448

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mittwoch U (1986) Males, females and hermaphrodites. Ann Hum Genet 50:103–121

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mittwoch U, Delhanty JDA, Beck F (1969) Growth of differentiating testes and ovaries. Nature 224:1323–1325

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mittwoch U, Lakshmi Narayanan T, Delhanty JDA, Smith CAB (1971) Gonadal growth in chick embryos. Nature [New Biol] 231: 197–200

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakamura D, Wachtel SS, Lance V, Becak W (1987) On the evolution of sex determination. Proc R Soc Lond [Biol] 232:159–180

    Google Scholar 

  • Nichter LS (1984) Seminoma in a 46,XX true hermaphrodite with positive H-Y antigen. Cancer 53:1181–1184

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ohno S (1985) The Y-linked testis determining gene and H-Y plasma membrane antigen gene: are they one and the same? Endocr Rev 6:421–431

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Page DC, Mosher R, Simpson EM, Fisher EMC, Mardon G, Pollack J, McGillivray B, Chapelle A de la, Brown LG (1987) The sexdetermining region of the human Y chromosome encodes a finger protein. Cell 51:1091–1104

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peters H (1971) Migration of genocytes into the mammalian gonad and their differentiation. Philos Trans R Soc Lond [Biol] 259:91–101

    Google Scholar 

  • Polani PE, Adinolfi M (1983) The H-Y antigen and its functions: a review and a hypothesis. J Immunogenet 10:85–102

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Scott WJ, Holson JF (1977) Weight differences in rat embryos prior to sexual differentiation. J Embryol Exp Morphol 40:259–263

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seller MJ, Perkins-Cole KJ (1987) Sex differences in mouse embryonic development at neurulation. J Reprod Fertil 79:159–161

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Silvers WK, Gasser DL, Eicher EM (1982) H-Y antigen, serologically detectable male antigen and sex determination. Cell 28:439–440

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Simpson E (1983) Immunology of H-Y antigen and its role in sex determination. Proc R Soc Lond [Biol] 220:31–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Simpson E, McLaren A, Chandler P (1982) Evidence for two male antigens in mice. Immunogenetics 15:609–614

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sporn MB, Roberts AB (1988) Peptide growth factors are multifunctional. Nature 332:217–219

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Troche V, Hernandez E (1986) Neoplasia arising in dysgenetic gonads. Obstet Gynecol Surv 41:74–79

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tsunoda Y, Tokunaga T, Sugie T (1985) Altered sex ratio of live young after transfer of fast- and slow-developing mouse embros. Gamete Res 12:301–304

    Google Scholar 

  • Wachtel SS (1983) H-Y antigen and the biology of sex determination. Grune & Stratton, New York, pp 12–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Wachtel SS, Koo GC, Boyse EA (1975a) Evolutionary conservation of H-Y (‘male’) antigen. Nature 254:270–272

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wachtel SS, Ohno S, Koo GC, Boyse EA (1975b) Possible role for H-Y antigen in the primary determination of sex. Nature 257:235–236

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Warner CM, Gollnick SO, Golbard SB (1987a) Linkage of the preimplantation embryo development (Ped) gene to the mouse major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Biol Reprod 36:606–610

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Warner CM, Gollnick SO, Flaherty L, Goldbard SB (1987b) Analysis of Qa-2 antigen expression by preimplantation mouse embryos: possible relationship to the preimplantation-embryo-development (Ped) gene product. Biol Reprod 36:611–616

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Washburn LL, Eicher EM (1983) Sex reversal in XY mice caused by a dominant mutation on chromosome 17. Nature 303:338–340

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • White KL, Anderson GB, Bondurant RH (1987) Expression of a male-specific factor on various stages of preimplantation bovine embryos. Biol Reprod 37:867–873

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wiberg UH (1987) Facts and considerations about sex-specific antigens. Hum Genet 76:207–219

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wolf U (1981) Genetic aspects of H-Y antigen. Hum Genet 58:25–28

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zaborski P, Dorizzi M, Pieau C (1982) H-Y antigen expression in temperature sex-reversed turtles (Emys orbicularis). Differentiation 22:73–78

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, University of Otago Medical School, P. O. B. 913, Dunedin, New Zealand

    Barbara F. Heslop, Mark P. Bradley & Margaret A. Baird

Authors
  1. Barbara F. Heslop
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mark P. Bradley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Margaret A. Baird
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Heslop, B.F., Bradley, M.P. & Baird, M.A. A proposed growth regulatory function for the serologically detectable sex-specific antigen H-Ys. Hum Genet 81, 99–104 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00293883

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00293883

Keywords

Search

Navigation