Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) induces the expression of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) in vitro in chronically infected cells of T and monocytic origin. The tat protein from the HIV-1 virus has been shown to be essential for HIV replication and in the immunosuppression associated with the virus infection. Previous studies in our laboratory have shown that HIV-1 tat gene induces TNF-beta (lymphotoxin) in human B-lymphoblastoid cells (Sastry et al., 1990, J. Biol. Chem. 265, 20091-20093). In an attempt to characterize further the relationship between the host and HIV-1, we investigated the effect of the functional HIV-1 tat gene on the expression of TNF receptors in a human B lymphoblastoid cell line (Raji). We report here that Raji cells transfected with HIV-1 tat gene express fewer cell surface TNF receptors than control cells. At least a 5-fold decrease in the receptor number without any significant change in receptor affinity was observed. The decrease in TNF receptors in tat-transfected Raji cells (Raji-tat cells) was found not to be due to receptor occupancy by the autocrine production of TNF-beta. The decrease in the cell surface expression of TNF receptors in Raji-tat cells was also found to be not due to a decrease in the gene expression of the receptor. The kinetics, amount of TNF binding and its internalization were temperature dependent, and it was different in Raji-tat cells than in the control cells.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)