In contrast, three of the four animals that demonstrated sustained suppression of viremia during tenofovir treatment had been depleted of CD8+ cells during a later stage of infection (≥ 39 weeks), when viremia was already suppressed by strong antiviral immune responses, and when the immune perturbation caused by CD8+ depletion may have had only a transient impact on antiviral immune responses. Here, CD8A is linked to infection.