The presence of antibodies against the major stress protein, Hsp70, in patients with autoimmune diseases led us to hypothesize that Hsp70 may occur extracellularly, and could exert chaperoning and regulatory effects on various cells. We examined the action of pure Hsp/Hsc70 on the main physiological functions of human promonocytic U-937 cells. The protein was isolated from calf muscle and was shown to be a mixture of inducible Hsp70 (60%) and constitutive Hsc70 (40%) isoforms. It was observed that the addition of the protein up-regulated two major monocyte/macrophage differentiation markers, CD11c and CD23, by 20-35%, while it had no effect on CD14. The experiments performed to investigate the influence of Hsp/Hsc70 on the reaction of U-937 cells to differentiation stimuli demonstrated that the addition of the protein prior to PMA was able to inhibit binding of proper transcription factors to double-symmetry and cAMP-response elements of the c-fos early response gene promoter. Administration of exogenous Hsp/Hsc70 prior to treatment with the tumor necrosis factor-alpha significantly lowered the number of apoptotic and necrotic cells. In no case did the control protein, ovalbumin, taken in the same concentration give a comparable effect on U-937 cells. Since the Hsp/Hsc70 effects occurred within the first hour of co-incubation, and therefore they might be explained by its interaction with the cell surface, we assayed binding of the biotinylated protein to U-937 cells by immunoenzyme assay, flow cytometry and indirect immunofluorescence. Using these three techniques we were able to detect Hsp/Hsc70 bound to cells after a 20 min incubation. According to flow cytometry data, at this time 32% of cells were positively stained with streptavidin-FITC. Immunofluorescence studies demonstrated Hsp/Hsc70 bound to the cell surface after a 20 min incubation followed by induction of patch and cap-like structures. One hour later, the majority of the protein had been internalized by U-937 cells.