ME1 and systemic lupus erythematosus: We also observed a slight but significant increase in ME1 gene expression in PBMCs derived from patients with SLE (mean ± SD = 6.02 ± 0.55) versus healthy controls (mean ± SD = 5.58 ± 0.54) (Figure 1B) when we examined the GSE82221 (GPL10558) dataset.