Mediation analyses on SLE-cis-meQTLs-DMPs (Supplementary Data) revealed that SLE genetic risk is significantly reduced when DNAm is incorporated in the model (Fig. 4b), and that a significantly high proportion of SLE genetic risk at the HLA class I region (12-65% proportion mediated) is mediated by DNAm in HLA-F, HLA-A, C6orf136, HLA-C, HLA-B, HCP5, TAP1 and PSMB9 genes (Fig. 4c, d). Here, HLA-C is linked to systemic lupus erythematosus.