The experiments reported here continue the study of regulated drug sensitivity by extending the observations to anthracyclines. Previous work has shown that hydrocortisone (HC) protects AML blast stem cells from the lethal effects of cytosine arabinoside (ara-C) while retinoic acid (ATRA) increases ara-C sensitivity; further mechanisms of regulation of ara-C sensitivity might include increase or decrease in repair of sublethal damage. Anthracycline dose-response curves are characterized by an initial shoulder, followed by exponential decrease in survival with increasing dose. The shoulder portion of such curves may indicate the accumulation of sublethal damage. We used two assays to look for evidence of regulation of anthracycline sensitivity by HC or ATRA; the clonogenic assay for blast stem cells detects drug effects on this crucial population, but only after several days on incubation, during which time repair might occur. Measurements of nicks in DNA show damage in the bulk population of cells, but these can be detected very soon after exposure to drug. Both methods showed the HC protected cells in two continuous cell lines (OCI/AML-2 and OCI/AML-5) while ATRA made the cells more sensitive. Blast cells freshly-obtained from six AML patients were also tested. Both assays showed HC protection and ATRA sensitization in three populations. The clonogenic assay detected both effects in cells from a fourth patient; the nicked DNA assay confirmed both effects in a fifth patient, where the results of the clonogenic assay did not reach statistical significance. Neither ATRA nor HC influenced the sensitivity of blasts from a sixth patient; but these cells were highly resistant to drug. Kinetic studies showed that damage persisted longer after treatment with anthracyclines than with ara-C. OCI/AML-2 cells treated with HC before drug accumulated fewer cells with nicked DNA after daunorubicin (DNR). Cells exposed to ATRA after DNR showed increased toxicity in kinetic experiments. We conclude that sensitivity to anthracyclines may be regulated by ligands for steroid receptors. Furthermore, since growth factors do not regulate anthracyclines' sensitivity, different mechanisms may be operative for the action of ligands for cell surface receptors. Finally, we suggest that retinoic acid might be considered for inclusion in standard anthracycline/ara-C regimens for the treatment of AML.