Therefore, our data bring important and original advances to the understanding of the contributions NK cells make to immunity against infectious disease, by demonstrating that i) they control the functions of another critical player in the innate antiviral responses, the pDC, and modulate the cytokine milieu induced early after challenge, and ii) they accelerate the generation of effector antiviral CD8 T cells. The gene discussed is CD8A; the disease is infectious disease.