The chemokines are a large group of cytokines that are recognized to be important mediators of inflammation. In this study we show that the human mast cell leukemia line HMC-1 is a source of multiple chemokines, including I-309, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1, macrophage inflammatory protein-1 alpha, macrophage inflammatory protein-1 beta, RANTES, and interleukin-8. I-309 and MCP-1 transcripts are expressed at low levels in unstimulated HMC-1. However, phorbol ester treatment up-regulates these and other chemokine transcript levels and also up-regulates chemokine protein synthesis and secretion. Induction of chemokine transcripts in HMC-1 requires de novo protein synthesis. We compared the effects of anti-inflammatory glucocorticoids on the expression of chemokine genes in HMC-1 to their effects in activated T-cells. We find that methyl-prednisolone reduces MCP-1 but not other chemokine transcripts in HMC-1, even though there are distinct and more general effects on chemokine transcripts in activated T-cells. These effects are attributed to inhibition of transcription rather than transcript stability. Our results suggest that human mast cells may be a source of multiple chemokines, that glucocorticoids may inhibit the expression of only a subset of these chemokines, and that mast cells and T-cell chemokine expression may occur via distinct regulatory pathways.