Our findings are in agreement with previous reports showing that, in patients, CLL cells can modify the T-cell environment (Ghia et al., 2002; Jadidi-Niaragh et al., 2013; Piper et al., 2011; Yang et al., 2009), induce regulatory T-cell proliferation (Gowda et al., 2010) and elevate CD8+ T cells during disease progression (Nunes et al., 2012). The gene discussed is CD8A; the disease is B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia.