Interleukin-6 is an autocrine growth factor in advanced stage melanoma and biosynthesis of IL-6 is increased by histamine in various cell lines. In our study we analysed the direct relation of histamine and IL-6 synthesis in human melanoma cell lines. All melanoma cells contained IL-6 mRNA, but only metastatic melanoma cells secreted the IL-6 protein. The H1 histamine receptor antagonist triprolidine decreased gene expression and biosynthesis of IL-6, while other histamine receptor antagonists had no effect. These data indicate that endogenous histamine has a definite role in the regulation of local IL-6, suggesting that histamine and IL-6 could be part of autocrine growth regulation of the tumor.