Caspase-3 was present at low levels (undetectable in 20% of the SLE samples) but still clearly increased compared with HC samples (q = 0.0071) (Fig. 5b), and caspase-3 and cytochrome c levels correlated (p = 0.007) in SLE-MPs (Additional file 1: Fig. S7). Here, CASP3 is linked to systemic lupus erythematosus.