Regulation of apoptosis (programmed cell death) is critical for maintaining tissue homeostasis. Recent studies indicate a tight coupling between cellular proliferation and apoptosis as cell cycle regulators such as Cyclin D, E1A and E7 appear to influence both events. Each of these modulators is able to bind to and inhibit the function of the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein (RB). RB functions, in part, by binding to and inactivating E2F transcription factors, preventing expression of E2F-activated genes associated with G1/S cell-cycle progression. Loss of functional RB deregulates E2F activity and, depending on cell type and environmental factors, promotes tumorigenesis or apoptotic death. To determine the effect of RB on IFN-gamma induced apoptosis, we treated RB-defective carcinoma cell lines and their respective RB-constituted sister clones with IFN-gamma and examined the cells for alterations characteristic of apoptosis. We observed that RB-defective cells, but not the RB-reconstituted clones, decreased in size following IFN-gamma treatment. IFN-gamma treatment caused increased cell detachment in the RB-defective lines but did not affect adherence of the RB-reconstituted clones. Assays for DNA fragmentation revealed lower molecular weight DNA and the apoptosis-associated oligo-nucleosomal ladder following IFN-gamma treatment of the RB-defective cells while higher molecular weight DNA was present in the IFN-gamma treated, RB-reconstituted lines. IFN gamma-induced apoptosis in RB-defective cells was enhanced by serum stimulation, which is also characteristic of p53-dependent E2F-1-mediated apoptosis. However, IFN-gamma induced apoptosis in RB-defective lines does not require wild-type p53 suggesting that, upon IFN-gamma induction, deregulated E2F-mediated apoptosis can also proceed via p53-independent pathways.