IL3 and cancer: Whereas STAT5 phosphorylation, binding to DNA and transcriptional activity are induced by IL-3 in Ba/F3 and Ba/F3-WT cells, they are constitutive in Ba/F3-1*6 cells in the absence of IL-3 (Fig. 1a, b and [11, 12, 29, 31, 35]), hence mimicking the situation found in cancer cells.