AIRE and viral load: Auto-Abs neutralizing type I IFNs were known to occur in some patients receiving IFN therapy, and in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, myasthenia gravis, thymoma, or autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome (APS-1) caused by germline mutations of AIRE, but they were not thought to confer a predisposition to viral diseases (2, 118).