A 5-fluoro-2'-deoxyuridine (FdUrd)-resistant subclone (Fd9XR) of HCT-8 (human ileocecal carcinoma) cells was established by two schedules of drug exposure. Initially, cells were exposed to short-term (3 hr) 100 nM FdUrd repeatedly (9 cycles over 8 months), and cells were then exposed to 10 nM FdUrd continuously. During this latter stage, a colony (Fd9XR) with fast growth rate was isolated, expanded, and characterized with respect to mechanisms of resistance to FdUrd and cross-resistance to other chemotherapeutic agents. Fd9XR cells were 1000-fold resistant to FdURD, but 3-fold more sensitive to 5-fluorouracil (FUra) than HCT-8 cells. After a 3-hr treatment with FdUrd, Fd9XR cells accumulated 6630-, 69-, and 3.7-fold less fluorodeoxyuridylate (FdUMP), fluorouridine triphosphate (FUTP) and acid-insoluble materials, respectively, than HCT-8 cells. However, when FUra was substituted for FdUrd, Fd9XR cells accumulated 9.2-, 3.1-, and 2.3-fold more FdUMP, FUTP and acid-insoluble materials, respectively, than HCT-8 cells. Fd9XR and HCT-8 were similar in their growth rates, combined pools of 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolates (5,10-CH2H4PteGlun) and tetrahydrofolates (H4PTeGlun), thymidine phosphorylase (TP) activity, and level and activity of thymidylate synthase (TS). In contrast, thymidine kinase (TK) activity of Fd9XR was 0.23 and 0.35% of that of HCT-8, for thymidine (dThd) and FdUrd as substrates, respectively. Furthermore, Fd9XR cells exhibited greater sensitivity to the antifolate TS inhibitor ICI D1694 and to methotrexate (MTX) than HCT-8 cells. In addition, dThd alone and in combination with hypoxanthine did not offer any protection against the cytotoxic effect of ICI D1694 in Fd9XR cells. These results indicate that in Fd9XR cells (1) TK deficiency is the primary mechanism of resistance to FdUrd; (2) the greater sensitivity to FUra was associated with higher pools of FdUMP and FUTP with a subsequently higher level of incorporation into cellular RNA; and (3) antifolate compounds, e.g. ICI D1694 and MTX, could be useful agents in the treatment of FdUrd-resistant tumors associated with decreased TK activity and decreased capacity of utilizing dThd.