Surface expression of FCRL3, an immunoglobulin receptor, on B cells has been associated with increased risk for several autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus, autoimmune thyroid disease, Graves’ disease and rheumatoid arthritis32–39, though incongruously, the same allele (which is in high LD with the risk allele of the rs6681271 variant) associated with increased FCRL3 expression and risk for these diseases was found to be associated with protection from MS40,41, and the association with SLE was not present in African-American, Korean or European-American groups36,42–44. Here, FCRL3 is linked to systemic lupus erythematosus.