MAVS and Autoimmunity: Consistent with this possibility, polymorphisms in the MDA5-encoding IFIH1 gene have been associated with SLE and other autoimmune conditions [7–10], spontaneous or oxidative stress-induced aggregation of MAVS was observed in some SLE patients [11], and overexpression or gain-of-function mutation of MDA5 enhanced disease in lupus mice [12–14].