Induction of immune coagulants has been implicated in the pathogenesis of murine hepatitis virus strain 3 (MHV-3)-induced fulminant hepatic necrosis. Previous work from our laboratory has shown that the induction of procoagulant activity (PCA) correlates with the resistance/susceptibility to disease in inbred and recombinant inbred (RI) strains of mice. Macrophages from susceptible, but not resistant, strains of mice expressed increased levels of PCA in response to MHV-3 stimulation. T lymphocytes, however, had a marked regulatory role in the final expression of macrophage PCA. CD3+ CD4+ CD8- lymphocytes from RI H-2 compatible susceptible mice were able to instruct macrophages from susceptible mice to express significantly augmented levels of PCA, whereas CD3+ lymphocytes from RI H-2 compatible MHV-3-immunized resistant mice were able to suppress induction of PCA. In this present study, T-cell lines were derived from draining popliteal lymph nodes from resistant A/J mice, which had been immunized with MHV-3. All T-cell lines showed marked proliferation to MHV-3 and MHV-JHM which was major histocompatibility complex (MHC) restricted. All cell lines were CD3+, four of these were CD4+ and one was CD8+. All of the CD4+ cell lines produced IL-2 and two produced interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), consistent with the Th1 cytokine profile. One cell line (3E9.1) was able to inhibit the induction of macrophage PCA through production of a soluble factor although cell-to-cell contact could not be excluded. This CD4+ T-cell line conferred protection to infected and susceptible AXB8 mice. These results demonstrate that the existence of a Th1 subpopulation of cells with a regulatory effect on macrophage PCA induction in MHV-3-infected mice contributes to the resistance of the A/J strain of mice to MHV-3 infection.