CD8A and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: However, previous animal study showed that activated CD8+ T cells were present in CNS of SOD1G93A ALS model at the symptomatic stage, and that selective deletion of CD8+ T cells could increase the survival of motoneurons whereas coculture motoneurons with mutant SOD1-expressing CD8+ T lymphocytes could selectively kill the motoneurons via Fas and granzyme pathways (Coque et al., 2019).