This research was to observe the effects of lithium chloride (LiCl) and Harringtonine (HT) on the proliferation and differentiation of HL-60 leukemia cells. The results obtained by liquid suspension culture, semi-solid colony culture and 3H-TdR incorporation into HL-60 cells indicated that different concentrations of LiCl (5-20 mmol/L) and HT (10(-8)-10(-5)mol/L) exerted the inhibitory effects in a dose-dependent manner on HL-60 cell proliferation respectively. When LiCl (10 mmol/L) and HT (10(-7) mol/L) were added together in the liquid culture or semi-solid culture of HL-60 cells, they showed much greater inhibitory effect than that by each agent separately. It was discovered that there was induction of the differentiation of HL-60 cells by lithium and HT and the induction of HL-60 cells differentiation by HT was markedly enhanced by the addition of low concentration of lithium. This work also showed that by treating HL-60 cells with lithium and HT, the expression of the c-myc proto-oncogene was markedly decreased as measured by RT/PCR-mRNA (P < 0.01). These findings provide some evidence of the mechanismcausing leukemic change and of the potential use of lithium and HT in the treatment of leukemia and in vitro purging of leukemic cells for autologous bone marrow transplantation.