Moreover, in addition to identifying a few candidate genes (RASA2, TXNDC11, THADA) for SLE, RA, UC and CD that have previously been linked to other allergy, thyroid or metabolic traits, we also validated previous findings linking the PLCL1, IL2RA and UHRF1BP1 genes to SLE and RA [33, 78–84], and the ATG16L1, C5orf56 and IKZF3 genes to UC and CD [44–46, 85–89]. This evidence concerns the gene ATG16L1 and systemic lupus erythematosus.