Site-specific survival of CD4 T cells was observed in all eight sets of matched samples: at 3 days, DFb maintained better T-cell survival than culture in medium alone (40 ± 1.2% (mean ± standard error) compared with 25.4 ± 1.4% (P < 0.05)). However, both SFb and BMFb maintained even better T-cell survival compared with DFb: 58.8 ± 1.2% (P < 0.001 versus DFb) and 51.4 ± 2% (P < 0.05 versus DFb). Fibroblast pre-activation with a wide range of proinflammatory signals had no effect on differential survival. T-cell survival was partially reconstituted by medium from T cell:fibroblast co-cultures and reduced by 50% in the presence of transwells suggesting that T cell:fibroblast interactions are necessary for increased survival. Unlike the case for T cells, resting fibroblasts did not affect neutrophil survival. However pre-treatment of all fibroblasts with tumour necrosis factor alpha significantly increased neutrophil survival: SFb 51.2 ± 6.1%, BMFb 51.1 ± 5.5%, DFb 50.6 ± 4.7%, versus control 16.2 ± 3.3%, P < 0.001. Fibroblast conditioned media reconstituted the survival effect, indicating that a soluble survival factor(s) as opposed to cell–cell contact mechanism is involved in neutrophil survival.