CD8A and viral infectious disease: Here we used the hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection as a human model of acute infection that generally undergoes chronic progression to verify whether CD8+ T cells that are specific for apoptotic self-epitopes have a distinct effector type-1, -2, or -17 phenotype, to distinguish which of them is associated with the fate of a viral infection (recovery versus chronicity), and to ascertain the mechanisms whereby these responses are induced and maintained.