Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is an acquired hemolytic disorder characterized by the presence of abnormal cells of various hematopoietic cell lineages deficient in surface expression of glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored molecules. By analyzing T cells isolated from patients affected with PNH, it was found that ex vivo GPI-deficient CD4(+) and CD8(+) peripheral T cells display a more naive phenotype as compared to wild-type cells. In addition, in vitro proliferative responses to allogeneic antigen-presenting cells were shown to be reduced in mutant T cells. To investigate the molecular basis responsible for defective T cell activation in GPI-deficient T cells, T cell lines and T cell clones were generated from patients affected with PNH. When stimulated with anti-CD3epsilon mAb, mutant cells displayed a significantly decreased activation of protein tyrosine kinase p56(lck). The decreased kinase activity was accompanied by a delayed TCR capping and internalization. Interestingly, protein tyrosine phosphorylation is not only quantitatively but also qualitatively affected, with one substrate being more intensively phosphorylated in mutant than in wild-type cells. These observations suggest that a defective activation of p56(lck) contributes to the depressed immune responses observed in GPI-deficient T cells derived from PNH patients.