Recent studies on NETotic cell death have demonstrated that similar to apoptotic material, NETs (especially in complex with anti-NET antibodies) can activate IFN-α production by pDCs (Garcia-Romo et al., 2011; Lande et al., 2011; Villanueva et al., 2011), adding a novel mechanistic player into SLE pathogenesis and potentially other systemic autoimmune disease in which IFN-α may play a pathogenic role (Knight and Kaplan, 2012). Here, IFNA1 is linked to systemic lupus erythematosus.