Elevated peripheral blood RNASE2 mRNA expression was validated by real-time PCR in 60 SLE patients, compared with 20 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 20 patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) or 37 HC (Figure 1A and Supplementary Table 3). This evidence concerns the gene RNASE2 and systemic lupus erythematosus.