Using the transcriptomic profile of tissular resident memory and effector memory CD8+ T cells of COPD patients compared with that of control subjects in the GSE61397 microarray dataset (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/) published elsewhere (Hombrink et al., 2016), we noted significative changes in the abundance of transcripts of genes related to cell adhesion. Here, CD8A is linked to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.