Multistage carcinogenesis in rat liver is widely used as an experimental model for the study of the critical events in tumor promotion. After an initial treatment with a genotoxic liver carcinogen ('initiation'), subsequent application of certain non-genotoxic agents can lead to the clonal expansion of putative preneoplastic cells ('promotion'). Obviously, the expansion of these clones is correlated with an increased occurrence of benign and malignant liver tumors at later time points. Since both proliferation and apoptosis were reported to be enhanced in putative preneoplastic liver foci, inhibition of apoptosis was suggested to play a critical role in tumor promotion. In rat hepatocytes in primary culture, the liver tumor promoter 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) inhibited apoptosis initiated by treatment of the cultures with UV irradiation but did not affect apoptosis in non-irradiated cultures. The suppression of apoptosis with TCDD coincided with an attenuated increase of the tumor suppressor protein p53 observed upon UV irradiation. Furthermore, TCDD treatment resulted in a marked hyperphosphorylation of p53. The fact that almost identical concentration-response curves were obtained for the phosphorylation of p53 and the induction of cytochrome P450(CYP)1A-catalyzed 7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD) activity indicates that p53 phosphorylation after TCDD treatment is mediated by the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) signaling cascade. With tumor-promoting 'non-dioxin-like' polychlorinated biphenyls inhibition of UV-induced apoptosis was also observed. A comparative study investigating the effects of various concentrations did not reveal, however, a clear correlation between the suppression of apoptosis and the induction of CYP2B-catalyzed 7-pentoxyresorufin O-dealkylase (PROD) activity. In summary, inhibition of UV-induced apoptosis with liver tumor promoters is observed in rat hepatocytes in culture. Hyperphosphorylation of key proteins of apoptosis including p53 seems to play a role in this effect.