CD44 and autoimmune disease: Several novel growth factors and chemokine pathways were also evinced by our analysis, such as the downregulation of IGF1R/IGF1 and PGF/NRP1 and upregulation of HBEGF/CD44, XCL2/XCR1 and CCL21/CCR7 pathways etc. However, the roles of these signaling pathways in mediating autoimmune diseases require further investigation.