We investigated infection of cultures from established human B- and T-cell lines by adenoviruses. Infection by adenovirus type 2 or 5 was productive by the criteria of viral DNA replication, RNA synthesis, immunofluorescent staining of viral proteins, and assembly of biologically active virions. Whereas the kinetics of infection were reproducible and characteristic for each cell line, there appeared to be no correlation between the kinetics of infection and the origin from which the cell lines were established. In a myeloma and a T-cell line, the kinetics of infection approached those in HeLa cells. The presence of the Epstein-Barr virus genome in B lymphoid cells was not a prerequisite for adenoviral infection. Furthermore, expression of the E1A gene was repressed in myeloma cells in comparison with HeLa cells.