CD8A and systemic lupus erythematosus: Measurement of endothelial or vascular dysfunction and assessment for presence of atherosclerotic plaque in this patient group was beyond the scope of the study; we used an adult SLE patient group scanned for presence of subclinical atherosclerotic plaque to validate the identified lipid biomarkers and used published literature data to validate DEGs from CD8+ T-cells isolated from human/mouse atherosclerotic plaques.