Rapid hematopoietic reconstitution following peripheral blood progenitor cell (PBPC) autotransplantation is thought to result from reinfusion of committed progenitor cells. This has raised concern that PBPC autografts might be rich in committed hematopoietic progentors responsible for early engraftment, but deficient in more primitive progenitors required for long-term hematopoietic reconstitution. The granulomonocytic colony-forming unit (CFU-GM) assay measures committed progenitors responsive to a single species of colony-stimulating activity such as granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), whereas the pre-CFU assay identifies more primitive progenitors by measuring interleukin-3 (IL-3) and kit ligand (KL) induced generation of secondary CFU-GM from CD34+, 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide resistant progenitors that require multiple cytokine stimuli. Paired bone marrow (BM) and PBPC samples from 17 breast and ovarian cancer patients participating in four separate clinical trials were compared in these assay systems. In seven of nine patients, PBPC autografts mobilized with cyclophosphamide rebound and G-CSF compared favorably with paired BM autografts in both committed and primitive progenitor capacity. Failure to mobilize substantial primitive progenitor cell numbers occurred in two of nine patients undergoing this mobilization regimen and could not have been predicted by either circulating CFU-GM or CD34+ cell number. Prior myelosuppressive treatment experiences reduced peripheral progenitor yields somewhat, but still allowed for the collection of PBPC autografts which compared favorably with BM autografts in total CFU-GM and Pre-CFU. Mobilization of PBPC with G-CSF or GM-CSF alone in patients who had received prior myelosuppressive therapies produced autografts which were relatively deficient in committed progenitors, but absolutely deficient in primitive progenitors. We conclude that optimization of patient characteristics and mobilization parameters can achieve PBPC autografts rich in both the primitive and committed hematopoietic progenitor cells.