GCF is a human transcriptional regulator that represses transcription of certain genes and is encoded by a 3-kilobase (kb) mRNA (Kageyama, R., and Pastan, I. (1989) Cell 59, 815-825). The expression of GCF was examined in a variety of clonal cell lines. The 3.0-kb GCF mRNA was found to be expressed at the highest level in HUT 102 cells (derived from a T-cell lymphoma). Elevated levels of the GCF mRNA were also noted in KATO III and AGS (gastric carcinomas), FEM-X (melanoma), and U266B1 (myeloma) cell lines. A human fibroblast cell line (WI38) did not express GCF mRNA, and no cross-hybridization to a mouse cell line (NIH 3T3) or monkey cell line (CV-1) could be detected. The GCF cDNA also hybridizes to RNA species of 4.5 and 1.2 kb. The 4.5-kb RNA has the same general expression pattern as the GCF mRNA. Hybridization of cellular RNA with various probes derived from the 3-kb cDNA revealed that the 4.5-kb RNA species only hybridizes to GCF cDNA probes from the extreme 5' end. By using single-stranded RNA probes, hybridization to the three RNA species was detected with the antisense probe for the 5' end (nucleotides 1-561). The single-stranded antisense probe for the region encompassing nucleotides 561-1692 hybridized to the 3.0- and 1.2-kb RNA species. The sense probes for these regions did not hybridize to these RNAs. The GCF gene was localized to a single locus, the chromosome 2 p11.1-11.2 region, by in situ hybridization. Treatment of human KB epidermoid carcinoma cells with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) lead to a rapid induction of GCF RNA after 1 h and a decline to lower than control levels after 6 h. Epidermal growth factor receptor mRNAs were not increased by PMA until 2 h after treatment and were at their highest level only after GCF mRNAs were decreased. The 4.5- and 1.2-kb RNAs were also induced by PMA with the same kinetics as the GCF mRNA. These results show that the GCF gene is widely expressed in human tissues and cell lines and that the 4.5- and 1.2-kb RNAs have similar expression patterns.