Mouse mAb M111 identifies a cell surface glycoprotein of 115,000 to 135,000 Da. M111 was expressed constitutively in subsets of cells of multiple lineages at discrete stages of cell maturation, suggesting that M111 is a differentiation Ag of the three germ layers. Ag expression could be induced by IFN-gamma but not by IFN-alpha, IFN-beta, or TNF. Induction of M111 expression was maximal at 48 h of culture in 200 U/ml of IFN-gamma and was independent of induction of class II MHC Ag. Induction was dependent on the cell type used. Nine colon cancer cell lines of undifferentiated phenotype were constitutively M111-; IFN-gamma induced M111 expression in seven of them. In contrast, IFN-gamma failed to induce M111 expression in six of six M111- ovarian cancer cell lines. Eight normal fibroblast cultures tested were M111-; they could not be induced to express M111. Three of five sarcoma cell lines were M111+; culture in IFN-gamma induced an increase in M111 expression in all of them. Constitutive and IFN-gamma-induced expression of M111 was independent of constitutive and induced expression of HLA class I and II molecules. IFN-gamma-mediated induction of M111 expression was not accompanied by coordinate changes in the expression of other differentiation traits. These results suggest that expression of the M111 gene is controlled by two mechanisms, one related to differentiation and the other activated by IFN-gamma.