After adjustment on age, gender and multiplicity, we observed a significantly increased proportion of RF positivity (55% vs. 10%, p<0.0001) and higher median levels of β2-microglobulin (2.09 [1.76;2.64] vs. 1.55 [1.34;1.74] mg/L, p<0.0001), IgG (9.66 [8.30;12.04] vs. 9.30 [7.96;10.31] g/L, p=0.001) and CXCL13 (81.73 [46.58;120.5] vs. 36.95 [24.46;55.77] pg/mL, p<0.0001) in SSc patients compared with HC (Table 2; Figure 1). The gene discussed is HLA-G; the disease is systemic sclerosis.