In humans, the last decade has seen the emergence of a link between NFIL3 and autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) [30,31], inflammatory bowel disorders such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis [32], as well as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) [33–35]. Here, NFIL3 is linked to ulcerative colitis.