In contrast, while the magnitude of circulating lymphocyte-platelet aggregates does not change in inflammatory, thrombotic, and atherosclerotic diseases, platelet-lymphocyte interaction has been delineated to exert a specific role in cancer: For example, platelets attenuated T cell activity in cancer patients ex vivo (130), and promoted tumor progression via suppression of CD8 T cells in murine cancer models (131). The gene discussed is CD8A; the disease is cancer.