IFNA1 and Autoimmunity: Genomic TEs, when derepressed, produce double-stranded RNAs or reverse-transcribed DNAs into the cytoplasm; these atypical nucleic acids should be eliminated by metabolism, and if not removed, they cause an inappropriate activation of nucleic acid-sensing pathways, ultimately inducing the IFNα response and cell death (Zeng et al., 2014) or autoimmunity by their chronic presence (Volkman and Stetson, 2014).