NSCLC patients had low levels of naïve CD4+ T (19.6 ± 11.6 vs. 29.1 ± 11.3, P < 0.001) and a low CD4+ naïve/memory ratio (0.3 ± 0.3 vs. 0.6 ± 0.3, P < 0.001) and high levels of memory CD4+ T (67.6 ± 13.6 vs. 55.6 ± 11.0, P < 0.001) and memory CD8 + T (36.6 ± 14.3 vs. 30.7 ± 8.0, P = 0.001), as well as a high naïve CD8/CD4 ratio (3.1 ± 2.8 vs. 1.8 ± 1.5, P < 0.001) than healthy controls (Fig. 1a). The gene discussed is CD8A; the disease is non-small cell lung carcinoma.