Turner syndrome patients are H-Y positive

Abstract

H-Y antigen was examined in six patients exhibiting the characteristic features of Turner syndrome. Five of the patients were of the karyotype 45,X, and one was a mosaic 45,X/46, Xi(Xq). H-Y antigen was detected in all of them, however, compared to male controls, their antigen titer was reduced. Within the intermediate range between female and male controls, considerable interindividual variation was detected among the patients which could be due to least in part to biological variation. The findings permit the inference that the H-Y structural gene is not Y-linked, and support the assumptions of an X-linked gene escaping inactivation and of it controlling the expression of the H-Y structural gene. It is probable that the structural gene itself is autosomal. The results also suggest that male gonadal differentiation is dependent on a threshold level of H-Y antigen concentration.