Importantly, the level of serum sIL-7R was found to be strongly correlated with the disease activity and renal flares in SLE patients [26, 35], which was consistent with a finding in RA patients, in whom an increased serum sIL-7R concentration was associated with poor response to (methotrexate and TNF-blocking) therapy [31]. Here, TNF is linked to rheumatoid arthritis.