In addition, we found increased percentages of circulating PCs and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), elevated serum autoantibodies, increased production of interferon (IFN)α and IL-6, and increased spontaneous NETosis [17], which together categorized healthy donor risk carriers as ‘presymptomatic’ SLE. Here, IL6 is linked to systemic lupus erythematosus.