The discrepancy between the percentage of CD44+CD62L+ cells and CCR7+ cells may be due to possible loss of CCR7 expression on TCRβ+CD138+ cells after repeated exposure to autoantigens, a phenomenon reported for CCR7+CD27+ memory T cells in lupus patients which lose CCR7 expression following repeated stimulation (13). Here, CD44 is linked to systemic lupus erythematosus.