Xie QM, Lou QY, Huang SW, et al. - The present study was conducted to investigate if heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) gene polymorphisms are implicated in systemic lupus erythematous (SLE) susceptibility, the efficacy of glucocorticoids (GCs) treatment, and improvement of health-related quality of life. Researchers enrolled a sum of 499 SLE patients and 499 controls in a case-control study, and 468 SLE patients treated with GCs for 12 weeks were involved in a follow-up study. They classified patients who completed the 12-week follow-up into GCs-sensitive and GCs-insensitive group by applying the SLE disease activity index. The health-related quality of life of SLE patients was assessed by using SF-36, and genotyping was conducted by improved multiplex ligation detection reaction. The results showed that in Chinese Han population, Hsp70 gene polymorphisms may be correlated with susceptibility to SLE and improvement of mental health.