Production of insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP)-2 and accumulation of IGFBP-2 mRNA was determined in six leukaemic T-, B- or promyelocytic cell lines. Cell growth was compared in serum free medium M-3 and in medium M-9 containing 5% FCS. In both media, high amounts of IGFBP-2 as measured by radioimmunoassay were detectable in culture supernatant of T-cell lines and promyelocytic HL-60 cells, whereas only small amounts of IGFBP-2 were secreted by the B-cell lines. Production of IGFBP-2 in M-9 was approximately 20-fold higher (up to 195 ng ml-1) than in M-3, partially reflecting higher proliferation. However, quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that, independent of the culture medium 10(6) T-cells contained between 30 and 48 units IGFBP-2 mRNA relative to the glycerol aldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase control gene, but B-cells contained less than 1 unit. Since IGF-II is known to be a major regulator of IGFBP-2, its influence on IGFBP-2 expression has to be investigated.