Second, the PD-1 blockade does not seem a principal cause of the decreased responsiveness exhibited by apoptotic epitope-specific CD8+ T cells from patients undergoing infection resolution in comparison to responses from patients who have developed a chronic infection, given that the degree of increase in the effector responses upon PD-1/PD-L1 blockade was very similar between the two categories of patients. This evidence concerns the gene CD8A and infection.