SLE patients had higher LC3-II and Beclin-1 but lower mTOR expression than those from HC (Additional file 1: Fig. S6a, representative immunoblot assay for Beclin-1, LC and mTOR in PBMCs from SLE patients and HC; Fig. S6b, p = 0.019 for LC-II, p = 0.030 for Becline-1, p = 0.043 for mTOR). The gene discussed is MTOR; the disease is systemic lupus erythematosus.