This study investigated the secretion of a tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and lymphotoxin (LT) from lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells during co-culture with glioblastoma cell lines, autologous glioma cells, and other non-gliomatous tumor cell lines (K562 and Daudi). Cytokine secretion from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was also examined. The TNF activity of culture supernatants was measured by L cell cytotoxic assay, and a neutralization test using anti-TNF and/or anti-LT antibodies determined whether the cytotoxic activity was due to TNF or LT. The results show that LAK cells secrete both TNF and LT during monoculture and release increased amounts of TNF and LT with non-gliomatous tumor cell stimulation, but PBMC secrete only TNF with tumor cell stimulation. Glioblastoma or anaplastic astrocytoma cells, however, did not stimulate cytokine secretion from either LAK cells or PBMC. This indicates a discrepancy between the capability of LAK cells to lyse malignant glioma cells and cytokine secretion from LAK cells, and suggests that malignant glioma cells may produce some factors which inhibit cytokine secretion from LAK cells.