CD8A and systemic lupus erythematosus: Enhanced apoptosis of CD8+ T cells and increased expression of pro-apoptotic molecules such as Fas, FasL, and caspase-3 have also been reported in adult-onset SLE [51,69,115] and JSLE [95,116] along with defects in costimulatory [117] and activation [118] pathways and increased expression of co-stimulatory (CD40L, CD86) [119,120] molecules.