Moreover, while the majority of positive and negative associations during homeostasis were homotypic (e.g., B cells exhibited enriched interactions with other B cells), interacting cell pairs were frequently separated and paired with different cell types at varying stages of lupus, an autoimmune disease (e.g., B cells exhibited enriched interactions with CD4−/CD8+ dendritic cells in the early stages of lupus). The gene discussed is CD8A; the disease is systemic lupus erythematosus.