Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I antigens are constituted of dimers consisting of a peripheral light chain, beta 2-microglobulin (beta 2m) and a transmembrane heavy chain whose cell surface expression depends on its assembly with beta 2m. In contrast, soluble beta 2m can be secreted in the absence of heavy chain expression. The presence of beta 2m in medium conditioned by a rat thymic epithelial cell line, IT45-R1 (IT45) prompted us to investigate whether beta 2m could be secreted by cells that express MHC class I antigens. IT45 cells produce three to five times more beta 2m in the culture supernatant than another rat thymic epithelial cell line, IT26-R21 (IT26). The IT45 cell line exported beta 2m through a constitutive pathway of secretion, as indicated by the kinetics of production and localization of intracellular beta 2m. Although cells from the IT45 cell line expressed a much higher amount of beta 2m as compared to IT26 and NBT II cells (a rat bladder epithelial cell line), all three of these cell lines expressed the same amount of membrane and intracellular MHC class I heavy chain. These data are thus consistent with a constitutive secretion of beta 2m dependent upon an overexpression of MHC class I light chain as compared to the heavy chain. The amount of beta 2m mRNA and the ratio of beta 2m versus MHC class I heavy chain transcripts were higher in IT45 than in IT26 cells, indicating that overexpression of beta 2m in IT45 cells could be due to an enhanced level of beta 2m mRNA.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)