The effect of the antitumorally active hexadecylphosphocholine (He-PC) on the colony-stimulating factor (CSF)-dependent growth of human hemopoietic progenitor cells was studied. At low concentrations He-PC stimulated the CSF-dependent progenitor cell colony growth of three patients suffering from chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and of three of six patients without hematological disorders. The stimulating effect was up to eight times that of the control using granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and twofold in the case of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), whereas only slight effects were noted when interleukin 3 (IL-3) or the combination of the CSFs was used as an additive. The stimulatory effects observed are far below the He-PC concentrations that are usually required for the in vitro growth arrest of cancer cells. At higher concentrations He-PC displayed suppressive effects, most pronounced in the case of G-CSF-dependent colony growth. At the concentrations investigated, He-PC failed to show any changes in the composition and distribution of specific colonies. He-PC by itself had no mitogenic activity. This indicates that He-PC acts as a co-stimulator. In the cases of myeloproliferative diseases and in the case of a patient without known hematological disorder, removal of accessory cells did not abrogate the He-PC-enhanced colony growth by CSFs. Thus, the stimulatory effect of low-dose He-PC seems not to be mediated by accessory cells.