We have evaluated the effects of tumour mass and circulating antigen (prostatic acid phosphatase, PAP) on the biodistribution and the incorporation of 111In-labelled F(ab')2 monoclonal antibody (MoAb) fragments directed against human PAP into human prostatic tumours (PC-82; 0.1-8.9 g) growing in nude mice. The radioactivities in the blood, liver, spleen, kidney and tumour were compared at 1, 3, 4 and 6 days after the intravenous administration of the antibody fragments. There was a significant correlation between the tumour size and the serum PAP concentration in the model employed. Even tissue of a small tumour (less than 0.1 g) had a high concentration of PAP, but it was not secreted into the circulation in detectable amounts when measured by radioimmunoassay (the lowest standard was 0.5 micrograms/l). The percentage uptake by tumours of the injected dose per gram of tissue (%ID/g) was inversely proportional to the tumour size at 24 h after the administration of 111In-labelled F(ab')2 fragments. This relationship had levelled off by 72 h and most likely reflected a better vascularisation of the smaller tumours. Our results show that the increase in tumour size and in the concentration of circulating antigen in the blood led to decreased tumour-to-blood ratios, since there was a tendency for higher blood activities in mice with larger tumours and higher serum PAP concentrations. There was no correlation between tumour size and label uptake by the liver during the follow-up over 144 h, although serum PAP concentrations ranged from 3.1 micrograms/l to 352 micrograms/l.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)