CD8A and AIDS: Additionally, some studies have demonstrated elevation of total CD8 counts in untreated HIV infection[25, 26, 27] and showed significant associations between elevated baseline total CD8 counts and progression to AIDS.[28, 29]Moreover, a retrospective cohort study recently reported that an increase in CD8 counts from cART initiation was significantly associated with treatment failure.[15] This suggests that elevated CD8 counts after cART may be useful as a predictor of VF.