The monokine interleukin-1 is produced by monocytes/macrophages after antigen/LPS stimulation and is an important early signal for the activation of resting T cells to become antigen specific T cells. However, little is known about the regulation and inhibition of IL-1. Recently, a new monokine has been described, generated by human macrophages, called interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra). This new monokine adheres to IL-1 in solution and blocks IL-1 receptor binding. IL-1ra is a glycoprotein structurally similar to IL-1 beta but having no interleukin-1-like activity. Using as a model mitogen (PHA 20 micrograms/ml)-stimulated lymphocyte DNA synthesis, we found that hrIL-1ra (30 min lymphocyte pretreatment) inhibits [3H]thymidine incorporation in a dose-dependent manner. This effect is most probably due to the inhibition of endogenous IL-1, which is a very important signal for T cell activation. The inhibition was maximum at the highest hrIL-1ra concentration used (250 ng/ml). However, when hrIL-1ra was added 2 h after PHA (20 micrograms/ml), a little, if any, inhibition of lymphocyte proliferation was found. The addition of hrIL-1ra simultaneously to the cell cultures with [3H]thymidine [( 3H]TdR) 6 h before the end of culture incubation did not significantly modify the results compared to the cells treated with PHA alone, indicating no interference of hrIL-1ra on [3H]TdR lymphocyte incorporation. We also found that the antibody anti-IL-1 beta inhibits mitogen stimulated lymphocyte DNA synthesis in dose-dependent concentrations.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)