Intensive oxidative burst was determined by chemiluminescence of peripheral blood neutrophils of mice that were intramuscularly injected with melanoma B16-F10 and/or subcutaneously with Sephadex G-200. The neutrophils from papula developed at the site of Sephadex injection were cytotoxic for the B16-F10 cells in vitro. However, survival of Sephadex injected tumour-bearing mice was lower than of control animals bearing B16-F10, while their tumours grew faster and were less necrotic. Thus, it is likely that injection of Sephadex distracted the neutrophils from the tumour allowing faster progression of the tumour, indicating that neutrophils may have an important role in the host defence against malignant cells in the early stage of tumour development.