CD8+ MAIT cells are able to kill infected cells via perforin/granzyme secretion and therefore have a protective role in microbial infection (47), but they have recently been implicated in the pathology of various non-infectious diseases such as cancer (48), colitis (49) and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (50) and type 1 diabetes (51). This evidence concerns the gene CD8A and infectious disease.