The overproduction of cytokines with inhibitory effects on hematopoiesis is considered to play a role in the pathogenesis of aplastic anemia. While interleukin 10 (IL-10) is a cytokine production inhibitory factor, the possibility of immunosuppressive therapy using IL-10 for aplastic anemia has not been explored. In this study, therefore, we examined the effect of IL-10 on progenitor cells obtained from seven patients with severe aplastic anemia. Our study indicated that IL-10 dramatically enhanced the erythroid colony formation in a dose-dependent manner in two of the seven cases examined. When we examined the concentration of cytokines in the culture supernatants of unstimulated bone marrow cells, the spontaneous production of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) was observed in one of these two cases, and this production was completely inhibited by addition of IL-10. These findings suggested that IL-10 enhanced the erythroid colony formation by inhibiting the pathological production of IFN-gamma in this case. This study provides an experimental support for the clinical application of IL-10 in some patients with aplastic anemia.