The authors studied the secretion of interleukin-2 (IL-2), the expression of interleukin-2 receptors (IL-2R; p55/Tac and p75), and the response to exogenous IL-2 by cultured Hodgkin's Reed-Sternberg cells (cell lines HDLM-1, HDLM-1d, and KM-H2) and T cells (H9, HuT78, HuT102, MOLT-4, and MT-2). All of these cells did not produce IL-2 or produced it in undetectable amounts, and their growth was not affected by the addition of anti-IL-2 or anti-IL-2R antibodies. This indicates that H-RS cells in long-term culture, as well as T cells, can grow independently of IL-2. The three H-RS cell lines, as well as two of the T-cell lines (HuT102 and MT-2), expressed Tac, whereas the other three T-cell lines were Tac negative. Expression of p75 was noted in the two Tac-positive T-cell lines, but not in cultured H-RS cells. The expression of Tac and p75 in HuT102 and MT-2 cells correlated well with their capacity to proliferate on treatment with exogenous IL-2. On IL-2 treatment, nucleic-acid uptake in Tac/p75-positive T cells increased approximately four- to sixfold, whereas the Tac/p75-negative T cells did not show increased proliferation. Unlike the T cells, the Tac-positive H-RS cells did not respond to IL-2. The lack of a proliferative response to IL-2 appears to be related to the absence of p75 in H-RS cells. A similar pattern (Tac positivity and p75 negativity) was noted in H-RS cells in lymph nodes involved by Hodgkin's disease. Thus the exogenous IL-2 released by surrounding T lymphocytes may not cause the proliferative activity of H-RS cells because of the lack of high-affinity IL-2 receptors in the latter cells. In contrast to H-RS cells in culture, H-RS cells in tissues were stained by a specific anti-IL-2 monoclonal antibody. This indicates that the expression of IL-2 or an IL-2-like substance by H-RS cells in tissues may be responsible, in part, for the great increase in the number of reactive T lymphocytes in tissues involved by Hodgkin's disease.