The metabolism of androgens in prostatic carcinoma has not been sufficiently studied so far, mainly because of the difficulty in obtaining human tissue specimens. The availability of LNCaP (lymph node carcinoma of the prostate) cells which retain most of the characteristics of the original carcinoma (dependence on androgens, presence of androgen receptors, production of acid phosphatase, etc.) has allowed the present in vitro study designed to characterize the metabolic pathways through which testosterone (T) is metabolized in malignant cells. LNCaP cells have been incubated in the presence of different labelled androgenic precursors to quantitate the formation of the respective metabolites, as indicators of the specific activities of the enzymes involved in such conversions; whenever possible, the kinetic constants (Km and Vmax) of the enzymes have also been calculated. It has been observed that, when [14C] T is used as substrate, the cells form both dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and androst-4-en-3,17 dione (delta 4) with the prevalence of the latter. When [14C] delta 4 is the substrate, T and 5 alpha-androstan-3,17-dione (5 alpha-A) are found with 5 alpha-A representing the major product. In addition, the cells form diols and 5 alpha-A from [14C]DHT as well as androsterone (A) and DHT from [14C]5 alpha-A; there is a prevalence of diols in the former case, and of A in the latter one. The yields of the different metabolites recovered after 2 h of incubation of the cells with the appropriate labelled substrates are therefore in descending order of magnitude: 5 alpha-A > A > diols > delta 4 > DHT > T. These results are also confirmed by the analysis of the rate of production of the different steroids. Taken together the present results suggest that: (a) qualitatively LNCaP cells possess all the major key enzymes involved in androgen processing; (b) the metabolism of androgens in this cell line resembles quantitatively that found in prostatic cancer tissue; all the metabolic steps which contribute to DHT degradation exceed the ones leading to its accumulation; (c) 5 alpha-reductase shows a significantly higher affinity for delta 4 than for T; (d) LNCaP cells may represent a suitable in vitro model for the study of factors controlling the formation and the degradation of androgens in prostatic carcinoma, thus permitting a better understanding of the metabolic processes involved in prostatic benign or malignant (carcinoma) transformation.