A recent study characterizing SLE risk in the HLA region across European, African, and Hispanic ancestries found notable risk-allele heterogeneity[6] within DQA1/DQB1 and DRB1. In our previous study of SLE in three Asian cohorts[7, 8], we localized strong signals at Class II loci, and confirmed HLA-DRB1*15:01 (primary residues 11-13-26) and HLA-DQB1*06:02[7]. Here, HLA-DRB1 is linked to systemic lupus erythematosus.