On the basis of our current results showing that BAY11 inhibited the IFN-α production in PBMCs from SLE patients as well as from healthy donors, treatment with BAY11 may have the potential to attenuate the IFN environment and in turn to break off the pathogenic spiral in autoimmune diseases by limiting the disordered pDC function. Here, PDC is linked to systemic lupus erythematosus.