CD8A and infection: During a natural infection with Plasmodium-infected mosquitoes, liver-stage malaria affords only a short window of opportunity to mount protective CD8+ T cell responses, as only a few dozen to a hundred sporozoites are inoculated into the host dermis, leading ultimately to a very low number of infected hepatocytes before releasing of merozoites into the bloodstream (about 7 days in humans and 2 days in rodents)25.