Abdominal diffuse malignant mesotheliomas develop in rats administered asbestos by the intraperitoneal route. A latency period of 6 to 24 months precedes tumor development; the biological and morphological features of these tumors resemble mesotheliomas in humans. Using one- and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting, rat mesotheliomas (n = 24) were shown to express two classes of intermediate filament (IF) proteins. The tumors contained both vimentin and at least one of six keratins (p40, Mr 40,000; Dm, Mr 50,000; p53, Mr 53,000; Bm, Mr 53,000; Cm, Mr 54,000; Am, Mr 54,000). Vimentin predominated in 15 of 16 tumors exhibiting either sarcomatous or mixed (epithelial and mesenchymal) appearance. One of eight mixed lesions and six of eight epithelial tumors had a complement of IF proteins in which cytokeratins predominated. A similar pattern has been reported in mesotheliomas in humans (Blobel et al., Am. J. Pathol. 121: 235, 1985). Epithelial tumors often contain comparable amounts of vimentin and low molecular weight cytokeratins, while vimentin is the most actively expressed IF protein in sarcomatous tumors. Thus, tumors induced by asbestos in the rat peritoneum express IF proteins in a manner that resembles human mesotheliomas, supporting the notion that these lesions are appropriate models of human mesothelioma.