In various systemic cancers, interleukin 12 (IL-12) induces anti-tumour immunity mediated by T lymphocytes and natural killer cells. To determine whether IL-12 has anti-tumour activity against malignant gliomas in the central nervous system (CNS), which is considered to be an immunologically privileged site, we treated mice with meningeal gliomatosis by intraperitoneal (i.p.) or intrathecal (i.t.) administration of recombinant murine IL-12. Although untreated mice revealed symptoms, such as body weight loss or paraplegia as a result of the meningeal gliomatosis within 8 days after tumour inoculation, 80% of the mice treated with IL-12 at 0.5 microg i.p. were cured. Many lymphocytes, mostly CD4+ and CD8+ cells, infiltrated to the tumours of IL-12-treated mice. The numbers of these cells increased in the cervical lymph nodes, into which the cerebrospinal fluid drains, and there they secreted a considerable amount of interferon-gamma. Mice cured by IL-12 rejected subcutaneous or i.t. rechallenge with their original glioma cells, but the same mice were not able to reject other syngeneic tumour cells. These results indicate that the immune system recognizes malignant glioma cells in the subarachnoid space of the CNS and that systemic IL-12 may produce effective anti-tumour activity and long-lasting tumour-specific immunity.