CD8A and viral infectious disease: Targeted approaches have also linked specific miRNAs with CD8 T‐cell transition from effector to memory phenotype (Khan, Penny, Yuzefpolskiy, Sarkar, & Kalia, 2013; Smith, Wissink, Grimson, & Rudd, 2015), with the ability of CD8 T cells to clear viral infections (Wang et al., 2013), with the accumulation of terminally differentiated effector memory CD8 T cells (Brunner et al., 2012) and with dysfunctional T‐cell receptor signaling in the elderly (Li et al., 2012).