Besides this, we were the first to identify in an original model of DTH-mediated colitis to hapten-modified self that cytolytic CD8+ T cells could initiate the inflammatory process in T cell-mediated colitis and in Balb/C mice as well as in MHC class II knock out (i. e., CD4+ T cell-deficient) B6 mice (30). This evidence concerns the gene CD8A and colitis.