As described in our previous review, rapamycin, an autophagy activator with mTOR inhibitory effects, led to a decrease of disease activity in a small group of SLE patients refractory to traditional treatments (29); at present, a clinical trial is testing the possible use of autophagy modulator in SLE treatment (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT00779194). Here, MTOR is linked to systemic lupus erythematosus.