Thus far, it has been reported that rheumatoid arthritis patients have a greater frequency of CD127+ macrophages than healthy subjects (5, 6), that lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment upregulates CD127 expression on human monocytes (7), and that increased CD127 expression on human monocytes is associated with some autoimmune diseases such as arthritis (8). This evidence concerns the gene IL7R and arthritic joint disease.