The effect of Corynecbacterium parvum treatment on the thermal response of animal tumors was studied. Tumors were methylcholanthrene-induced (FSa-II) and spontaneous (FSa-I) fibrosarcomas in C3Hf/Sed mice. C. parvum was given i.v. and was followed by local hyperthermia at 43.5 degrees 3 days later. Cell survival determined by lung colony assays showed that preadministration of C. parvum insignificantly enhanced the thermal response of both tumors. Studies of delay of tumor growth for FSa-II demonstrated that the enhancement ratio decreased with increasing time of treatment and reached a minimum of approximately equal to 1.7. The enhancement ratio for the time at hyperthermia which achieved tumor control in one-half of the treated tumors was 1.7. Together with our previous results on normal tissue responses, the therapeutic gain factor for obtaining 50% tumor control was found to be 1.1 (1.7/1.55) for the weekly immunogenic FSa-II tumor, while it was 2.3 for moderately immunogenic FSa-I as reported previously.