CD8A and tuberculosis: To address the kinetics of mycobacterial antigen load-associated changes in CFP-10 and ESAT-6-specific CD8 T cell phenotype, we compared expression of each molecule on CFP-10/ESAT-6-specific CD8 T cells between persons with LTBI, who had not received any treatment, and TB diseased patients at three time points: pre-treatment, and 2 and 6 months following initiation of treatment.