CD8A and viral infectious disease: These results of these human studies, in tandem with the data produced by in vivo mouse studies, strongly suggest that systemic immunostimulatory regimens and immune challenges, such as HD IL-2, TLR engagement, and viral infection and other pathogen stimuli, induce corticosteroid responses that correlate with decreased sjTREC positive T cells in the periphery, specifically in CD8 T cells at the day 8 timepoint, likely due to inhibitory effects on the thymus through glucocorticoid-mediated involution.