Homeobox genes encode sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins that are involved in the regulation of gene expression during embryonic development. In this study, we examined the expression of homeobox proteins in human cancer. Antiserum was obtained against a synthetic peptide derived from the highly conserved 60 amino acid homeodomain. This peptide antiserum recognized a protein species of molecular weight 63,000 in immunoblots of nuclear extracts obtained from several tumor cell lines. The predominant molecular weight 63,000 nuclear protein recognized by the peptide antiserum was then isolated and used to elicit a rabbit antiserum. In immunostaining, both antisera reacted with the nuclei of cultured tumor cells. In tissue sections of human carcinoma, nuclear immunoreactivity was observed in the tumor cells in 40 of 42 cases examined. Adjacent normal epithelial tissue obtained from the same patients exhibited little immunoreactivity. Both the peptide antiserum and the polyclonal antiserum against the native protein immunoblotted a molecular weight 63,000 protein in nuclear extracts of tumor tissue, but not significantly in extracts of normal tissue. At the molecular level, the presence of the homeobox transcript in human carcinoma was documented by in situ hybridization and RNase protection mapping. These results demonstrate that human cancer is associated with the expression of homeobox proteins. Such homeobox proteins, as well as other regulatory proteins, could be involved in the initiation or maintenance of the malignant phenotype.