CD8A and interstitial lung disease: One of our recent studies discovered that an amyopathic dermatomyositis-associated ILD group with a cluster of activated CD45RA+HLA-DR+CD8+ T cells and a reduced proportion of CD56dim NK cells showed a high prevalence of rapidly progressive ILD and increased mortality rates (27), indicating that peripheral lymphocyte immunological profiles have predictable potential for the development of ILD fibrotic progression.