In nonatherosclerotic arteries, a modest population of CD8 T cells can be found at the intima or adventitia of both humans and mice, indicating a baseline level of immunosurveillance9,19, and early experimental models with varying degrees of immunodeficiency at birth suggested an insignificant or even protective role of CD8 T cells in atherosclerosis20,21. This evidence concerns the gene CD8A and Immunodeficiency.