Responses of leukocytes to low concentrations of LPS require the expression of membrane-associated CD14 (mCD14) on the cell surface; mCD14 is, however, a glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol-anchored protein and, therefore, a poor candidate for transducing signals across the plasma membrane. The role of other cell surface proteins in responses of leukocytes to LPS was tested by measuring IL-6 secretion of cultured human monocytes and adhesion of PMN in response to LPS after treatment of the cells with trypsin. Trypsin abolished leukocyte integrin-mediated adhesion of PMN in response to LPS, but the trypsinized cells remained responsive to the alternate agonists TNF, formyl peptide, and PMA. Similarly, trypsin treatment of monocytes inhibited IL-6 production in response to LPS, but not to formyl peptide or PMA. No change in cell surface expression of mCD14 was observed by cytofluorometry, and no proteolysis of mCD14 was detected by immunoblot analysis. These results suggest that digestion of a cell surface protein distinct from mCD14 must account for the loss of responsiveness to LPS. The uptake by monocytes of [3H]LPS presented in LPS-soluble CD14 complexes was also inhibited by trypsin treatment. Monomeric LPS was taken up superstoichiometrically to mCD14 with a ratio of up to 15:1, and trypsin treatment decreased this uptake by more than half. This suggests that a cell surface protein may function in accepting LPS from mCD14. Together the results suggest that one or more trypsin-sensitive cell surface proteins distinct from CD14 participate in both the uptake of LPS by leukocytes and the initiation of the signaling process.