Virus-specific CD8+ T cells can greatly ameliorate recovery from respiratory diseases such as avian influenza, SARS, and MERS and persist long-term as cross-reactive memory pools.50–53 In addition, B cells elicit an early response against the N protein and N-specific neutralizing antibody production at the early stage of highly pathogenic coronavirus infection.52,54 These studies suggest that the highly pathogenic coronavirus N protein may not only activate complement but also affect CD8+ T cells and antibody responses to promote inflammatory responses. Here, CD8A is linked to avian influenza.