In agreement with findings in systemic lupus erythematosus patients that show a positive correlation between mRNA expression of ADAM17 and serum level of Sema5A [47], and with data in HeLa cells showing the cleavage of Sema5A by ADAM17 [48], we found that the increased amount of Sema5A levels after forced expression of Bcl-2, were paralleled by increased activation of ADAM17 (data not shown), thus suggesting that Bcl-2 might process Sema5A protein through ADAM17 activation. This evidence concerns the gene BCL2 and systemic lupus erythematosus.