Although the global DNA hypomethylation and aberrant histone modifications in the chromatin of CD4+ T cells have been identified in SLE patients39, the site-specific epigenetic modifications mediated by transcription factor RFX1 in IL17A, CD11a, and CD70 loci16, 21 facilitated the characterization of altered epigenetic regulation occurring in the chromatin of CD4+ T cells, leading to the activation and inactivation of gene transcription. Here, CD70 is linked to systemic lupus erythematosus.