Apoptosis has an important role in several key immunological phenomena such as regulation of the immune response, and deletion of auto-reactive cells. This phenomenon is induced following the interaction of several cell membrane receptors with their respective ligands or after cell activation. We have studied the possible effect of signaling through CD50/ICAM-3 and CD69/AIM on apoptosis of peripheral blood lymphocytes. Apoptosis was assessed by both flow cytometry analysis (content of cell DNA and binding to annexin V), and detection of DNA fragmentation by agarose gel electrophoresis. We found that a stimulatory anti-CD50 mAb was able to induce a small but significant degree of apoptosis in resting peripheral blood mononuclear cells from most donors; this effect was dose-dependent and was evident as early as at 12 h, with a maximal induction at 48 h. Studies with T and non-T cells showed that only the former cell population was sensitive to the induction of apoptosis through CD50. Further experiments revealed that the anti-ICAM-3 mAb preferentially induced apoptosis of TCR gamma delta-bearing cells. In addition, we found a significant increase in Cai2+ in PBMC stimulated with an anti-CD50 mAb, suggesting the involvement of this signaling pathway in the induction of apoptosis through this adhesion receptor. In contrast, under our experimental conditions, stimulation through CD69 did not have any effect on the induction of apoptosis on either cultured T lymphoblasts or PMA-stimulated PBMC. Our findings suggest that the interaction of CD50 with its natural ligand LFA-1 results in the induction of apoptosis in a significant fraction of resting PBMC. This phenomenon may be involved in immune regulation, lymphocyte turnover and peripheral deletion of auto-reactive cells.