CD8A and malnutrition: Malnutrition, nutritional deprivation, and low-energy availability are thought to be one of the major causes of immunodeficiency where the most common immune defects are atrophy of lymphoid tissues (e.g., thymus), reduced maturation of T-lymphocytes, an imbalance in the ratio of CD4/CD8 T-lymphocytes, and predominant TH2 helper cell response (54–59), alterations that were consequently also suggested by the leukocyte transcriptome in our study (Figures 3, 5).