The biologic response of the human leukemia cell line M-07 to granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), interleukin 3 (IL-3) and interleukin 4 (IL-4) is mediated by a low number of high affinity receptors. Cross-competition studies revealed that IL-3 and GM-CSF partially inhibited the specific binding of the heterologous radiolabeled ligand, whereas IL-4 binding was not affected by these cytokines. The molecular mechanism of cross-competition was investigated by chemical crosslinking and immunoprecipitation. Trimolecular receptor complexes consisting of a major 73kDa and two minor 120 and 128kDa membrane proteins for IL-3, and a major 84kDa and two minor 120 and 130 kDa proteins for GM-CSF were found on M-07 cells. The 73 and 84kDa proteins represent distinct and non-linked membrane proteins and are identical with the cloned, low affinity IL-3 and GM-CSF receptor proteins (Gearing et al, 1989, Hayashida et al, 1990). The higher molecular weight proteins share common binding sites as evidenced by immunoprecipitation of double-crosslinked membranes. The 120/128kDa proteins are most likely identical with the recently cloned and shared beta-subunit of the IL-3 and GM-CSF receptor (Kitamura et al, 1991) containing a single or two IL-3 and/or GM-CSF molecules.