We first confirmed that the proportion of CD226+ B cells had no obvious correlation with prednisolone equivalent dose (ρ = 0.09; P = 0.54) and were almost the same between SLE patients with immunosuppressive agents and those without immunosuppressive agents [23.0% (15.5–31.7) vs 21.4% (12.1–37.0); P = 0.76]. This evidence concerns the gene CD226 and systemic lupus erythematosus.