CD8A and malaria: Similarly, memory CD8+ T cells were found to be the only cell subset of those evaluated that significantly distinguished HbAS children from HbAA children before the start of the Pf transmission season (median frequency 4.98% vs. 2.29%, P = 0.027; Supplementary figure 2c) when only individuals with paired sample available at the time of first malaria episode of the ensuing Pf transmission season were analysed (Supplementary figure 2).