Schizophrenia has been observed to be associated with various abnormalities in cytokines and cytokine receptors. Three very recent reports showed the evidence that the IL3 gene, colony stimulating factor 2 receptor alpha (CSF2RA), beta (CSF2RB) and IL-3 receptor alpha (IL3RA), the IL-specific receptor subunits for CSF2 and IL3, respectively, are associated with schizophrenia. To examine the association of the IL3RA polymorphism (rs6603272) with schizophrenia in a Chinese population, 310 physically healthy patients with schizophrenia were compared with 330 age-, sex- matched normal controls. Statistically significant differences were observed in both allelic and genotypic frequencies of the rs6603272 polymorphism (Allele, chi2=6.24, d.f.=1, p=0.013, odds ratio (OR)=1.35, 95% CI 1.07-1.71; Genotype, chi2=6.85, d.f.=2, p=0.033). 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.