The concentrations of the major neutral lipid and phospholipid classes in the plasma of rats bearing hepatoma 7288CTC were determined at various times after transplantation. The fatty acid composition of each lipid class was also analyzed quantitatively as tumor growth progressed. Generally, most lipid classes exhibited a slight decrease between the third and sixth day after transplantation, returned to near normal levels by the 15th day, increased dramatically and peaked between the 24th and 27th days before plummeting sharply. At peak concentrations, triglycerides were increased 5 times the normal levels, whereas cholesterol, cholesterly esters and phosphatidylcholines were increased 3-fold. The percentage of hexadecenoates decreased in all lipid classes as tumor growth progressed and generally, stearate levels increased. In addition to monounsaturated fatty acids, lysophosphatidylcholines and phosphatidylcholines showed relatively large decreases in the percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids with increased tumor growth. These results indicate that hepatoma 7288CTC can cause perturbation of host animal plasma lipids in the early stages of growth which precedes the massive hyperlipidemia. The interpretation of these results suggests that the early changes in plasma lipids may result from alterations in the normal lipid metabolism of the host, and the hyperlipidemia that develops later may result from the mobilization of lipids to compensate for the altered metabolism.