In a large study of associations between DRB1 alleles and six autoimmune disorders, DRB1*13 was found to be a protective factor for four autoimmune disorders (rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis, and systemic sclerosis), whereas other DRB1 alleles were risk factors (Bettencourt et al., 2015). This evidence concerns the gene HLA-DRB1 and systemic lupus erythematosus.