This study provides evidence for an association between LCE3C_LCE3B-del and RA in non-Caucasian populations, and SNPs rs4112788 and rs4085613 tagging LCE3C_LCE3B-del were novel susceptibility factors for SLE.
An association of homozygosity for the LCE3C_LCE3B-del and rs4112788 C allele with the risk of RA was observed in the first data set and was replicated in an independent case-control set.