Elevated systemic levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) have been directly correlated with increased mortality during experimental gram-negative bacterial sepsis. Although monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) directed against gram-negative bacterial lipopolysaccharide (endotoxin, LPS) decrease TNF production in vitro and enhance survival in vivo, the precise relationship between inhibition of TNF secretion and protective capacity has not been defined. We hypothesized that protective anti-LPS mAbs inhibited LPS-stimulated TNF production. To test this hypothesis, we first produced and characterized three anti-LPS mAbs. We then examined the ability of these mAbs to decrease TNF secretion in an in vitro assay using cells from the murine macrophage cell line RAW 264.7. Subsequently, we assessed the protective capacities of these anti-LPS mAbs in a murine mucin peritonitis model of sepsis using live Escherichia coli 0111:B4 bacterial challenge. Our results demonstrated that those anti-LPS mAbs that decreased LPS-stimulated TNF secretion in vitro were protective in vivo. We concluded that inhibition of TNF secretion in vitro reflected protective capacity and that anti-LPS mAbs may confer protection via abrogation of macrophage TNF secretion. Inhibition of TNF production in vitro may provide a valuable test that may facilitate the selection of protective anti-LPS mAbs.