Recent reports have showed that IL-3 gene, colony stimulating factor 2 receptor alpha (CSF2RA) and IL-3 receptor alpha (IL3RA) are associated with schizophrenia.
While this is not a direct replication, the results obtained from both the family and case-control samples collectively suggest that IL3 and DTNBP1 are likely to interact and jointly contribute to increase risk for schizophrenia.
Our results indicate a small but significant contribution of the IL3RA polymorphism to susceptibility to schizophrenia, suggesting that the IL3 pathway may be involved in schizophrenia.
Since CSF2RB is essential for IL3 signaling, the findings that both IL3 and CSF2RB showed sex-specific and FH-dependent associations suggest that the IL3 pathway is involved in schizophrenia.