CD8A and neoplasm: In addition to CD8+ T lymphocytes, natural killer (NK) cells have a crucial role in the recognition and killing of virus-infected/tumor cells, but unlike CD8+ T-cells, they use a repertoire of germ-line encoded inhibitory/activating receptors that recognize “missing self”/“altered-self” antigens on the target cells leading to cytotoxicity and cytokine production (3).