Although the SLE patients constituted a distinct cross-sectional cohort, the incidence of anti-hHb reactivity was in general agreement with previous data from our lab (17); while anti-Hb antibody levels were also significantly elevated in sera of malaria patients, antibodies in sera from rheumatoid arthritis patients and vitiligo patients did not exhibit such reactivity (Figure 1A). This evidence concerns the gene GSTM1 and rheumatoid arthritis.