Pretreatment of human colon epithelial cells HT29 by recombinant gamma interferon (IFN)-gamma was found to protect the cells from infection with various isolates of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 and HIV-2, as assessed by co-cultivation with human T lymphoblastoid cells and gene amplification by polymerase chain reaction technique. Additionally, IFN-gamma induced a dose-dependent inhibition of HIV-1 and HIV-2 production in chronically infected HT29 cells. In situ hybridization studies demonstrated that IFN-treated cells were still able to synthesize viral messenger ribonucleic acid. However, the expression of the p24 product of the gag gene was markedly decreased after IFN treatment as demonstrated by radio-immunoprecipitation assay. Taken together, these data suggested that the cytokine acted at the post-translational level by inhibiting the processing of structural viral proteins. It is concluded from this study that IFN-gamma has a potent anti-HIV effect on epithelial gastrointestinal cells.