We also identified a variety of pathways related to certain autoimmune diseases such as the IBD pathway, the Toll-Like receptor pathway, the CD27–CD70 pathway and the CD40–CD40L pathway which have been shown to be associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), multiple sclerosis (MS), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic sclerosis (SSc), Sjögren’s syndrome (SS), psoriasis, uveitis and other autoimmune diseases (11, 27–29). Here, CD40 is linked to systemic sclerosis.