The results showed that allele A frequency of rs6568431 and allele G frequency of rs6937876 were significantly higher in patients with AITDs, which is similar to a finding that their frequency is also higher in patients with SLE [16], a classic autoimmune disease, suggesting that ATG5 SNPs could lead to higher susceptibility to autoimmune diseases. Here, ATG5 is linked to systemic lupus erythematosus.