This is in agreement with a prior report demonstrating that viral clearance from the submandibular glands is unaltered in CD94-deficient DBA/2J mice (which share the BALB/c Ly49 genes) compared to DBA/2J mice expressing a CD94 transgene, despite increased expression of Qa-1 in the submandibular glands after viral infection [51]. Here, HLA-E is linked to viral infectious disease.