Haemopoietic colony-stimulating factors (G-CSF and GM-CSF) are now commonly administered as an adjunct to cytotoxic chemotherapy in patients with NHL, to reduce the incidence of these toxicities based on data accrued from several randomised controlled studies (Pettengell et al, 1992; Bastion et al, 1993; Gerhartz et al, 1993; Aviles et al, 1994; Engelhard et al, 1994; Gisselbrecht et al, 1997; Zinzani et al, 1997; Doorduijn et al, 2003; Osby et al, 2003). Here, CSF3 is linked to non-Hodgkin lymphoma.