On post‐ischemia day 14, representative images and the combined quantitative immunoblotting data demonstrated that the ischemic muscles had elevated levels of VEGF and its downstream Erk1/2 phosphorylated proteins in the CD8a+/+ mice, and this signaling activation was augmented in the CD8a−/− mice (Figure 4A,B). This evidence concerns the gene VEGFA and ischemia.