G0 cells in a tumor are insensitive to the chemotherapeutical agents. The nature of this resistance is not completely understood. One of the factors modulating sensitivity of cells may be DNA repair of drug induced DNA damage. In this study we have compared gene-specific formation and repair of cisplatin-induced interstrand cross-links (ICL) in human G0 and proliferating CD4+ lymphocytes. Cisplatin killing of G0 CD4+ lymphocytes is inefficient, and these cells resemble those in a tumor. After exposure to cisplatin under similar conditions, the frequency of ICL introduced is twice as high in the proliferating compared to the resting lymphocytes. Repair of ICL was measured in the housekeeping gene, dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), in the proliferation inducible c-myc gene, and in the inactive delta-globin gene. We observed similar relative rates and extent of ICL repair in all three genes studied, in G0 or proliferating CD4+ lymphocytes. The mechanisms responsible for the resistance of G0 CD4+ lymphocytes towards cisplatin are discussed.