In order to solidly establish the association among IFN-α, CMPK2, foam cell formation, and atherosclerosis, the ideal experimental results will be to show that SLE patients with high IFN signature were harboring increased number of foam cells in atherosclerotic plaques and those when analyzed had high lipid index and CMPK2 levels as compared to other vascular infiltrating macrophages with lower lipid index and CMPK2 levels in healthy or SLE patients with low IFN signature. Here, IFNA1 is linked to systemic lupus erythematosus.