A human ovarian yolk sac tumor cDNA library was screened for homeobox genes with an oligonucleotide probe under low stringent condition. Three homeobox genes were isolated, two of which were identified as HHO.c1 and HB24. The third was highly homologous with the mouse Hox-8 gene and was designated as HOX-8. Studies on RNAs from 25 human tumor tissues and cell lines showed that the profile of HOX-8 expression was different from those of HHO.c1 and HB24. The expression of HOX-8 was not detected in hematopoietic tumor cells, in which HHO.c1 and HB24 were highly expressed. HOX-8 was expressed at higher levels in a variety of tumors of epithelial origin than in their corresponding normal tissues more frequently than HHO.c1 and HB24. All three homeobox genes were highly expressed in a yolk sac tumor, an immature tumor of gonadal origin. These results suggest that HOX-8 plays a more important role in human tumors of epithelial origin than those of hematopoietic origin.