Because these mDC subsets may have different immune roles in infection and they have not been studied as discrete populations in AIDS, we studied them throughout infection in SIV-infected CD8+ lymphocyte depleted rhesus macaques as this model allows a significant and rapid increases of viremia, rapid progression to AIDS and reduced survival of over 95% of SIV-infected CD8 depleted animals in a short time period (3–4 months pi) [21]. The gene discussed is CD8A; the disease is AIDS.