On day 7 post-infection, CD69 and CD25 were expressed at marginally higher levels on dicerCKO CD8 T cells compared to their WT counterparts in spleen as well as other tissues such as blood (CD25), lymph node and liver (CD69) (Fig 3C and S2B Fig), suggesting that miRNAs may be involved in the downregulation of these markers during later stages of infection. Here, CD69 is linked to infection.