The mechanism by which 2'-deoxyguanosine is toxic for lymphoid cells is relevant both to the severe cellular immune defect of inherited purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) deficiency and to attempts to exploit PNP inhibitors therapeutically. We have studied the cell cycle and biochemical effects of 2'-deoxyguanosine in human lymphoblasts using the PNP inhibitor 8-aminoguanosine. We show that cytostatic 2'-deoxyguanosine concentrations cause G1-phase arrest in PNP-inhibited T lymphoblasts, regardless of their hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyltransferase status. This effect is identical to that produced by 2'-deoxyadenosine in adenosine deaminase-inhibited T cells. 2'-Deoxyguanosine elevates both the 2'-deoxyguanosine-5'-triphosphate (dGTP) and 2'-deoxyadenosine-5'-triphosphate (dATP) pools; subsequently pyrimidine deoxyribonucleotide pools are depleted. The time course of these biochemical changes indicates that the onset of G1-phase arrest is related to increase of the dATP rather than the dGTP pool. When dGTP elevation is dissociated from dATP elevation by coincubation with 2'-deoxycytidine, dGTP does not by itself interrupt transit from the G1 to the S phase. It is proposed that dATP can mediate both 2'-deoxyguanosine and 2'-deoxyadenosine toxicity in T lymphoblasts.