The sequence dependency of the antitumor effect of etoposide and ara-C was investigated against the L1210 ascites tumor in BDF1 mice. Etoposide (7.5 mg/kg or 15 mg/kg) and ara-C (25 mg/kg or 500 mg/kg) were administered intraperitoneally on days 1, 4 and 7 after inoculation of L1210 with or without time interval of 3 or 6 h. Antitumor effect was decided for cure rate and post inoculation survival time of the mice died of tumor. Six hours pretreatment with 15 mg/kg of etoposide followed by 500 mg/kg of ara-C yielded 100% of cure rate, but only 20% of cure rate was obtained with the reverse sequence. Simultaneous administration of etoposide and ara-C produced 70% of cure rate. At every dosage examined, pretreatment with etoposide given 6 hr before ara-C was the most effective antitumor schedule in L1210 leukemia.