Oncostatin M (OSM) and leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) are involved in stimulation of acute-phase protein during inflammatory processes. We recently suggested that these two cytokines may play a role in human immune surveillance during tumor progression. The present study was designed to determine the capacity of OSM in modulating LIF production by human tumor cells and to provide a better definition of the interactions between these two molecules during inflammatory reaction due to neoplasia. LIF content in culture supernatants was assayed by a specific ELISA (sensitivity: 25 pg/ml). In vitro exposure to recombinant OSM increased LIF production 2 to 6-fold in all human melanoma cell lines tested. This effect was not limited to melanoma cell types since LIF production was also enhanced by an MDA breast undifferentiated adenocarcinoma line. Moreover, a synergistic effect was observed for OSM and TNF-alpha. LIF increase was apparently due to up-modulation through LIF synthesis since LIF transcript expression was also enhanced in these tumor cell lines. It is concluded that OSM can induce inflammatory reaction not only directly but also via LIF production by tumor cells.