In recent studies, a strong connection between autophagy and lupus has been revealed by the findings of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in autophagy-related gene 5 (Atg5) to lupus susceptibility [76,77,78], which is further supported by the findings of an important role of Atg7 in B cell development and activation of autophagy in SLE patients [79]. This evidence concerns the gene ATG7 and systemic lupus erythematosus.