Neutrophil degranulation was the most significantly enriched pathway in this signature (online supplemental figure S3D, table S5B), whereas gene network analysis revealed that the lupus-susceptibility risk loci NCF2, ITGAM, NCF1, RASGRP1 and FCGR2A33–35 were high-degree hub genes, suggesting their central pathogenic role in LN (online supplemental figure S3E, table S5C). This evidence concerns the gene ITGAM and systemic lupus erythematosus.