Immunological detection of Bcl-2 family proteins in CD4+/CD8+ T cell subsets revealed that Bcl-XL and Mcl-1 were significantly reduced in effector memory CD4+CD27negCD45RA+ (EMRA) (for primary gating strategy, see Supplemental Fig. 1B) T cells of SLE patients compared to healthy controls ex vivo (Fig. 4C, E). This evidence concerns the gene CD8A and systemic lupus erythematosus.