Taxol, a naturally occurring diterpene with antitumor activity, induces tubulin polymerization to generate abnormally stable and nonfunctional microtubules. Previously, we showed that taxol has lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-like effects on macrophages. As LPS is a potent inducer of macrophage cytokine production, we investigated whether a similar effect is exerted by taxol. In a dose-dependent manner, LPS-free taxol induced release of biologically active tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF) by inflammatory murine macrophages. Taxol-induced production of TNF was inhibitable by interleukin-10. By Northern blot, taxol (10 and 1 microM) induced TNF mRNA expression to an extent similar to LPS. Induction of TNF mRNA by 10 microM taxol was detectable at 45 min of stimulation, maximal at 90 min, and evident for at least 8 h. The same low concentration of taxol also induced interleukin 1 (IL-1) alpha and beta mRNA expression. We conclude that taxol triggers macrophages for TNF and IL-1 production. These LPS-like effects of taxol might contribute to its antitumor activity.