Therefore, the aims of our study were (i) to non-invasively assess structural and functional microvascular alterations in SLE in various vascular beds and identify their frequency, (ii) to examine possible associations between the accumulation of microvascular TOD and CV risk in patients with SLE and (iii) to compare Gal-3 levels between the groups and investigate whether Gal-3 represents a predictor of combined microvascular TOD. The gene discussed is LGALS3; the disease is systemic lupus erythematosus.