Thymidine kills cells by depleting dCTP stores. The present experiments tested whether deoxycytidine, by replenishing dCTP pools, could prevent thymidine cytotoxicity and thymidine's enhancement of carboplatin killing in two human T-cell acute leukemia cell lines. MOLT3 and JM cells were exposed to combinations of thymidine, deoxycytidine, and carboplatin and then assessed for survival, the magnitude of thymidine-carboplatin chemosensitization, and changes in deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate pools. For both cell lines, deoxycytidine (up to 144.5 micrograms/ml x 24 h) completely restored dCTP pools but only partially protected against thymidine cytotoxicity (100-1000 micrograms/ml x 24 h) and thymidine-carboplatin sensitization (up to 60 micrograms carboplatin/ml during the last hour of thymidine). This contrasts with complete protection in prior studies using other cell types. Thymidine alone markedly increased dTTP and dGTP pools and decreased dCTP; dATP pools underwent a sharp decline which has not been observed before in any cell line. In subsequent studies 0.0336-137.3 micrograms deoxyadenosine/ml partially prevented cytotoxicity and carboplatin sensitization by 300 micrograms thymidine/ml. Together, deoxycytidine and deoxyadenosine completely prevented thymidine-carboplatin sensitization even though dATP and dCTP pools were not entirely returned to normal. These findings are discussed in regard to the unusual sensitivity of T-cell malignancies to thymidine toxicity, mechanisms of cytotoxicity and chemosensitization by thymidine, and the possibility of thymidine selectively sensitizing T-cell malignancies to killing by alkylating agents.