TNF-alpha is a primary mediator of the inflammatory response and has been ascribed a wide range of biologic activities including the cytolysis of some but not all transformed cell lines in vitro. Since most cells, normal and transformed, will also be lysed if they are concurrently treated with inhibitors of transcription or translation, the ability to resist TNF lysis depends on the de novo induction of specific gene products. To identify genes that might be involved in the ability to resist TNF-mediated cytolysis, cDNA libraries enriched for TNF-induced genes were constructed and screened. Twenty-one genes that are induced by TNF were isolated. Ten of the cDNA clones were identified by DNA sequence analysis and function in inflammatory responses, tissue or cellular repair, or cellular metabolism. Seven genes were not identified and are novel. The remaining four genes are encoded in the mitochondrial genome. Interestingly, not all the mitochondrial transcripts are induced. This may reflect a fine tuning of certain components of mitochondria that may be necessary for survival after TNF treatment.