We investigated four mechanisms of intrinsic chemoresistance in a series of 67 human brain tumours including 31 gliomas (one grade I ganglioglioma, nine grade II and 10 grade III astrocytomas, 11 glioblastomas), 13 cerebral metastases, one medulloblastoma, one malignant teratoma, three ependymomas and 18 meningiomas. We studied four genes by northern blotting: multidrug-resistance (MDR 1), glutathione-s transferase (GST pi), dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), and topoisomerase II (Topo II). The Topo II gene was absent in the normal adult brain (100%) and in 64% of the tumour samples tested. A second gene, GST pi, was found to be overexpressed in 38% of brain tumours. The two other chemoresistance-related genes were occasionally overexpressed in brain tumours (2% for MDR1, 9% for DHFR). Our results provide evidence that chemoresistance is intrinsic to the brain tissue and seems likely to be a multifactorial process.