Spleen cells from BALB/c mice bearing a small, but already clinically evident transplantable methylcholanthrene-induced sarcoma (CE-2) are not able to release interferons, proliferate and perform a cytotoxic response against CE-2 cells, nor able to inhibit their growth in vivo in a Winn-type neutralization assay. They can, however, be reeducated to be efficiently active against the tumor. Spleen cells (25 X 10(6) ) and 10(6) mitomycin C-treated CE-2 cells were cultured in 20 ml of medium for 6 days. The surviving spleen cells were then cultured for another 5 days under the same conditions plus 10% interleukin 2-rich supernatant from a clone of EL-4 thymoma cells stimulated with phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate. Reeducated spleen cells were then able to inhibit the growth of a 100% lethal dose of CE-2 tumor cells in a Winn-type assay, even when the lymphocyte to tumor cell ratio was 5:1. In vitro, they released interferon-gamma when restimulated by CE-2 cells, and displayed a marked cytotoxicity in an 18-hr assay. Their in vivo tumor-neutralizing activity was not affected by the removal of Lyt-2.2+ lymphocytes, nor by the absorption of cytolytic cells on CE-2 monolayers. The absorbed cell population no longer contained cytotoxic cells nor cytotoxic cell precursors, but still contained CE-2-specific helper cells, which assist the in vitro induction of cytotoxic cells by normal thymocytes. Lyt-2.2-, noncytotoxic, reeducated spleen cells from tumor-bearing mice thus play an important role in tumor neutralization in vivo.