CD8A and type 1 diabetes mellitus: Given that human insulin-specific CD8 T cells have been shown to have cytotoxic activity against islets [54], an additional advantage of the NOD.β2mKO.HHD.Ins2het mouse model is the expression of the T1D-predisposing human class I MHC allele HLA-A∗02:01 [4, 6, 8, 12], which we have shown as supporting the development of T cells specific for HLA-A∗02:01-restricted insulin epitopes in these mice (Figure 3(d)).