A promonocytic cell model was used to investigate cytokine gene transcription in U937 and U9-IIIB cells chronically infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). The production of interferon (alpha-1 interferon [IFN-alpha 1], IFN-alpha 2, and IFN-beta), interleukin (interleukin 1 alpha [IL-1 alpha], IL-1 beta, and IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) mRNA was characterized by quantitative polymerase chain reaction mRNA phenotyping in U937 and U9-IIIB cells following coinfection with Sendai paramyxovirus or stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Chronic HIV-1 infection of U9-IIIB cells resulted in a low constitutive level of transcription of TNF and IL-1 genes but not IFN genes; however, when the cells were coinfected with Sendai virus, 10- to 20-fold higher levels of IFN-beta, IL-1 beta, IL-6, and TNF-alpha mRNA were observed in U9-IIIB cells than in similarly induced U937 cells. The enhanced levels of cytokine RNA in virus-infected U9-IIIB cells were also accompanied by higher levels of IFN antiviral activity and TNF secretion than in U937 cells. Transcript levels for IFN-alpha 1 and IFN-alpha 2 were equivalently induced in virus-infected U937 and U9-IIIB cells, indicating that a generalized derepression of cytokine gene expression did not occur as a consequence of HIV-1 infection. When LPS was used as an inducer, a distinct pattern of cytokine gene expression was detected in U9-IIIB cells. TNF-alpha and IL-1 beta but not IFN-alpha or IFN-beta transcripts were induced by LPS. These results suggest that HIV-1 infection of promonocytic cells may prime or sensitize cells such that subsequent antigenic challenge leads to coordinate enhancement of cytokine gene expression.