The third component of complement (C3) plays key roles in complement activation of both the classical and alternative pathways. The liver is the major site of C3 synthesis; monocytes, B-lymphocytes and leukemic cell lines of the myeloid lineage also synthesize C3. Here we report that the C3 gene is inactive in fresh T-cells, but active in T-cells treated with the lectin phytohemagglutinin (PHA). Northern blot hybridization studies show that PHA-activated T-cells and all the T-cell lines tested express the 5.3 kb RNA transcript reported for C3 in HepG2, a hepatoma cell line, and monocytes. We used radioimmune precipitation followed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis to show that PHA-stimulated T-cells and T-cell lines, which are not infected with the human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV), synthesize and release C3 proteins with molecular masses of 185, 115 and 80 kD; HTLV-infected T-cell lines release C3 proteins of 170, 115 and 70 kD. In contrast, monocytes produced C3 proteins of 115 and 70 kD similar to the serum form of this protein. The role of T-lymphocyte C3 and the implications of HTLV-infection are discussed.