Short-term liquid marrow culture (STLMC) is a potential source for autografting in leukemia. In a preclinical setting, including candidates for autologous marrow transplantation, we have studied STLMC supported by a selected mixture of clinical available recombinant human haematopoietic growth factors. STLMC of leukemic marrow cells were prospectively performed to evaluate the purging effect. Bone marrow cells cultured and supported by the selected mixture of rhIL-3/rhGM-CSF/rhEpo revealed an increased number of day 10-12 cultured cells, parallelled by an increased proliferation rate when compared to unstimulated cultures. The median number of myeloid progenitors recognized as day 7 and day 14 granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming units (day 7/14 GM-CFU) was significantly increased in the supported STLMC to 145/305 from 105/115 per ml culture (n = 7, p < 0.01). Further addition of rhKL did not enhance the numbers of day 7 or day 14 GM-CFUs per ml culture. In no instance was the number of clonogenic cells at the end of culture greater than the input day 0, except in cultures of purified CD34-positive marrow progenitors which resulted in an expansion of late myeloid progenitors. Cytokine-supported cultures of leukemic marrow cells from acute myeloid (n = 14) and lymphoblastic (n = 7) leukemia patients were established at the time of diagnosis. In the supported cultures, the cell number increased for myeloblast but was unchanged for lymphoblast leukemic marrow cells compared to non-supported cultures. Immunophenotypic and cytogenetic studies of selected leukemic cell samples identified unchanged myeloid or slightly reduced frequencies of lymphoblastic leukemic cells at the end of culture. This preclinical study supports the idea that the addition of a mixture of clinical available haemopoietic cytokines to STLMC increases the recovery of detectable myeloid progenitors which may enhance myeloid regeneration after autografting. No substantial selective loss of myeloid leukemic cells was found in the cytokine-supported short-term culture system.