As expected, all nine upregulated genes associated with severe SLE had higher median expressions in HHV5-positive SLE group than in HHV5-negative SLE group, although statistical significance was only observed for two genes (CEACAM6, p-value = 0.0297; STAT5B, p-value = 0.0022) (Figures 5A, B). Here, STAT5B is linked to systemic lupus erythematosus.