Although the study concerning CD8+ cells did not find any impairment of function in individuals with pleural plaque, we have reported that CD4+ T lymphocytes in individuals with pleural plaque showed a decrease in cell surface expression of CXCR3, a chemokine receptor dominantly expressed on Th1 cells [3], which supports the second aforementioned scenario. Here, CXCR3 is linked to pleural disorder.