Human tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2) was cloned and sequenced from an A2058 human melanoma cell cDNA library. When the sequence was compared with that of human TIMP-1 at both the nucleotide and deduced amino acid levels, the homology appeared closer at the protein level than at the nucleotide level, suggesting that these inhibitors diverged early in the evolution of this gene family. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequence for TIMP-2 with that of human TIMP-1 shows that there are two regions in which the similarity is below the overall average of 66%. It is postulated that these regions are responsible for the unique ability of TIMP-2 to bind to the latent form of the 72-kDa type IV collagenase. Polyclonal anti-TIMP-2 antisera recognized TIMP-2 but not TIMP-1 on immunoblotting. Northern blot analysis of RNA from A2058 human melanoma, HT-144 human melanoma, HT-1080 human fibrosarcoma, and WI-38 fetal lung fibroblast cell lines demonstrated two distinct transcripts of 1.0 and 3.5 kilobases (kb) for timp-2 mRNA. Both transcripts are down-regulated in response to transforming growth factor-beta but are unchanged in response to phorbol ester treatment. This is in contrast to the up-regulation of timp-1 transcripts by these agents and indicates that timp-2 and timp-1 are independently regulated in cell culture. Northern blot analyses of matched normal and tumor tissue samples from five cases of human colorectal carcinoma were performed. Normal and tumor tissues contain both the 1.0- and 3.5-kb transcripts. However, in the tissue samples the ratio of the 3.5-kb transcript to the 1.0-kb transcript was markedly elevated. No evidence of down-regulation of timp-2 transcript levels was noted in the tumor tissues. This is in contrast to the elevated timp-1 transcript levels seen in these tumor samples. Thus, timp-2 mRNA transcript levels are differentially regulated from timp-1 levels in vivo as well as in cell culture.