In order to validate our observations, and based on three reports, including the genome wide association study (GWAS) performed by Lessard et al., in 395 patients with SS and 1975 controls from European origins (31, 35, 41), the FAM167A–BLK locus (Chr 8:11421463-11564604) was selected to position the 8 FAM167A–BLK SS risk variants plus two 5′-UTR variants selected from the LD analysis and previously identified as lupus risk variants (53). The gene discussed is BLK; the disease is systemic lupus erythematosus.