Our present study centered on the development and application of a distinct scoring system, MANAscore, which proved highly effective in identifying and characterizing tumor-reactive CD8+ TIL across a spectrum of cancer types and classes of tumor antigen, including neoantigens, cancer-testes antigens, endogenous retroviruses and oncogenic viral antigens, even though our initial goal was to only identify neoantigen specific TIL. This evidence concerns the gene CD8A and cancer.