Plotted in the heatmap in (A) are the serum levels of long chain fatty acids (FA) and medium chain FA in 9 healthy controls and 20 SLE subjects, as determined by the metabolomic scan. Presentation details are as in Fig. 1(I). In the metabolomic scan, additional differences were noted in the serum levels of 9-HODE and 13-HODE (C), methionine (F), cysteine (G), choline (H) and vitamin B6 (I); presentation details are as in Fig. 1. In (C) and (I), the SLE patients have been segregated into 2 groups - mild SLE (SLEDAI <6; N = 10) and active SLE (SLEDAI >5; N = 10). Also plotted are validation assays for serum levels of free fatty acids (FFA; B), the lipid peroxidation marker, MDA (D), glutathione (GSH; E), and vitamin B6 (J), ascertained in an independent cohort of 38 SLE patients and 14 healthy controls, using commercially available assays, independent of the original metabolomic scan. Each dot represents data from an individual subject (*,P<0.05; **,P<0.01; ***,P<0.001).