CD8A and AIDS: CNS vascular inflammation found in pediatric AIDS consists of transmural and perivascular mononuclear infiltrates consisting primarily of CD3+ and CD8+ T-lymphocytes, in contrast to the inflammatory lesions found in adult patients with HIV-1 encephalopathy in which monocytes and macrophages are the predominant mononuclear cells [31], suggesting the immunologic and inflammatory basis of disease in children is fundamentally different from that found in adults.