The mitogenic and metabolic effects of insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF-II) can be modulated by six distinct IGF binding proteins (IGFBPs). As a first step toward understanding the role of IGFs and their binding proteins in intestinal epithelial cell differentiation, the expression of IGF-II and IGFBPs was characterized in the human colon adenocarcinoma Caco-2 cell line. Northern blot analysis revealed two IGF-II transcripts of 5.4 and 4.5 kb, and ribonuclease protection assays indicated that IGF-II mRNA levels are regulated during Caco-2 differentiation. A specific radioimmunoassay detected IGF-II in serum-free conditioned medium, the level of which was three- to fivefold higher in proliferating cells than in differentiated cells. Immunoprecipitation and ligand blot analyses of conditioned medium demonstrated that IGFBP-2, IGFBP-3, IGFBP-4, and IGFBP-6 are synthesized by Caco-2 cells, with IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-4 being the major IGFBPs secreted, and that the levels of IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-6 decreased as differentiation proceeded. These results indicate that the expression of IGF-II, IGFBP-2, and IGFBP-6 is regulated in a differentiation-dependent manner in Caco-2 cells.