MTOR and systemic lupus erythematosus: Furthermore, the B cell stimulating factor BAFF promotes B cell activation via mTOR activation (Ke et al., 2014), and inhibition of mTOR in plasmacytoid dendritic cells limits production of type I interferons, which has obvious implications for SLE (Cao et al., 2008; Bengtsson and Rönnblom, 2017).