EGF and schizophrenia: Watanabe et al. (2010) have reviewed the evidence suggesting that inflammatory processes mediated by cytokines such as epidermal growth factor (EGF) and interleukins provide a common pathway linking genetic and environmental factors. Genome wide association studies have revealed evidence of multiple genetic variants implicated in immune mechanisms, most notably variants of immunity-related genes located on chromosome 6 in the vicinity of the Major Histocompatibility Locus, are associated with schizophrenia (Shi et al., 2009).