The cytotoxicity of NK cells has been thought to be mediated mainly by the perforin-dependent pathway. We investigated the involvement of Fas-mediated pathway in the killing activity of purified human CD3-, CD16+ NK cells. Fas ligand mRNA was expressed in freshly isolated NK cells. Apoptosis, which was identified by the fragmented chromatin in individual cells, was induced in the cells that expressed high levels of Fas via direct NK-to-target cell interaction or Ab-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity, even in Ca(2+)-free medium, in which perforin pores are known not to be formed. Apoptosis in both the presence and absence of external Ca2+ was inhibited by Fab of an anti-Fas mAb. Transfection of the Fas gene in target cells facilitated the induction of apoptosis, compared with the parental cell line. The function of the Fas-mediated pathway in the coexistence of the perforin-dependent pathway was examined in 10 cell lines expressing different levels of Fas by Ca2+ imaging and morphologic observation of single cells. With a certain boundary level, low or high levels of Fas expression in target cells were correlated to a great degree with either acute necrosis due to severe membrane damage after NK-target cell contact or apoptosis at a later period, respectively. We concluded that Fas ligand/Fas interaction is present and plays a significant role in the human NK cell-induced apoptosis.