Importantly, while exposure of CD8+ T cells to IFNα for 2 days did not trigger any significant mitochondrial or metabolic changes (Supplementary Fig. 10b–f), 7-day IFNα exposure, especially combined with T cell activation, induced downregulation of the mtDNA-encoded gene expression (Fig. 4a) and changes in the mitochondria (Fig. 4b), that were similar to the ones observed in the CD8+ T cells from IFN-High SLE patients (Fig. 2a, b). The gene discussed is IFNA2; the disease is systemic lupus erythematosus.