ITGAM and autoimmune disease: First, a non‐synonymous (R77H) variant of the CR3 α‐chain, CD11b (encoded by the common rs1143679 variant of ITGAM), has been identified as a strong genetic risk factor for the development of the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) across multiple populations [odds ratio (OR)meta = 1.76] 8, 9, 10.