The persistent antigenic stimulus posed by chronic T. cruzi infection takes its toll on the maintenance of a functional memory population: it has been observed that patients with chronic Chagas disease have an imbalanced composition of the CD8+ memory T cell subset, with a lower frequency of TSCM cells associated with a higher frequency of TTE cells, as compared to non-infected subjects (151). The gene discussed is CD8A; the disease is Chagas disease.