CD8A and rheumatoid arthritis: Compared to non-RA EBV seropositive controls, RA patients have higher titers of EBV antibodies in serum, a higher load of EBV DNA, more EBV-infected B cells in the peripheral blood and an increased frequency of circulating EBV-specific CD8+ T cells, suggesting that there might be a link between RA and EBV[9, 13].