Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) is a potent and efficient stimulator of adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) accumulation in a human colon carcinoma cell line, HT 29. cAMP accumulation is sensitive to a concentration of VIP as low as 3x10(-12) M. Maximum VIP-induced cAMP levels were observed with 10(-9) M VIP and are about 200 times above the basal levels. Half-maximum cAMP production was obtained at 3x10(-10) M VIP. (125)I-Labeled VIP was found to bind to HT 29 cells; this binding was competitively inhibited by concentrations of unlabeled VIP between 10(-10) and 10(-7) M. Half-maximum inhibition of binding was observed with 2x10(-9) M VIP. Secretin also stimulated cAMP accumulation in HT 29 cells, but its effectiveness was 1/1000 that of VIP. The other peptides tested at 10(-7) M, such as insulin, glucagon, bovine pancreatic polypeptide, somatostatin, octapeptide of cholecystokinin, neurotensin, and substance P, did not stimulate cAMP accumulation. Prostaglandin E(1) and catecholamines stimulated cAMP production but were 1/2.3 and 1/5.5 as efficient as VIP, respectively. Another malignant cell line from the gut, the human rectal tumor cell line HRT 18, is also sensitive to VIP. In HRT 18 cells, VIP stimulated cAMP accumulation with a maximal effect at 10(-8) M; half-maximum stimulation was observed at about 10(-9) M. These results demonstrate the presence of VIP receptors in two malignant human intestinal cell lines (HT 29 and HRT 18) in culture and provide a model for studying the action of VIP on cell proliferation.