Clinical and experimental observations suggest that tumor-induced endothelial cell injury may be one of several initial events in the establishment of tumor metastases. To test this hypothesis, the authors have analyzed the interaction of malignant melanoma (ST-ML-12) multicenter tumor spheroids with endothelial cell monolayers in a three-dimensional coculture system. After 1.5 hours of interaction, the authors observed a toxic effect on endothelial cells in the perispheroid region. The latter was demonstrated by testing membrane integrity with the fluorescent probes acridine orange/ethidium bromide and resulted in sensitivity to shear stress of the damaged cells. The endothelium then underwent a regenerative cycle to replace the denuded halo. Addition of the oxygen radical-scavenging enzyme superoxide dismutase to the culture medium prevented this endothelial cell damage in a dose-dependent manner for up to 12 hours. By contrast, catalase, deferoxamine mesylate, allopurinol, and the proteinase inhibitors soybean trypsin inhibitor and aprotinin were not protective under the same conditions. The endothelial damage was dependent on the attachment of the spheroids. Medium conditioned by ST-ML-12-spheroids proved to be ineffective. A similar, but less prominent, deleterious effect was seen when human peritoneal mesothelial cells were used in place of the human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Spheroids of the uroepithelial cell line HU-609 were used as control. No toxicity was observed in these cocultures. Melanin biosynthesis is associated with the production of oxygen-derived free radicals. The results suggest a possible implication of these free radicals in metastasis formation of malignant melanoma.