201Tl is useful in the diagnosis of tumor malignancy determined by the grade of washout rate to normal tissue, especially in lung tumors and thyroid tumors. 99mTc-MIBI, a tracer of myocardial blood flow, is also a tumor tracer. We examined whether the growth of tumor cells is related to the uptake and release of these tracers in cultured tumor cells. Cultured tumor cells (HeLa cells and squamous cell carcinomas derived from human lung cancer) were incubated for 60 min with 10 kBq of either tracer for the kinetic study of cellular uptake. They were additionally incubated for 90 min with cold medium for the kinetic study of cellular release. These cells cultured with various concentrations of actinomycin D (ACD) or CDDP were used to examine the correlation between the cellular growth and kinetics of these tracers. The cellular release of 201Tl increased relative to the concentration of added ACD or CDDP in both cell types. In contrast, the cellular release of 99mTc-MIBI was not changed by the addition of ACD in HeLa cells. In conclusion, 201Tl showed a slower washout rate in high-growth tumor cells than in low-growth tumor cells; thus, it could act as an indicator of tumor malignancy by assessing its washout rate.