The protein levels of phosphorylated-JNK (p-JNK), phosphorylated-P65 (p-P65), phosphorylated-STAT3(p-STAT3) and the levels of transcripts encoding inflammatory cytokines were significantly elevated in colonic tissues from the + DSS treated animals compared to the -DSS mice (Supplementary Fig. 1C,D), confirming the successful induction of colitis in this model. This evidence concerns the gene MAPK8 and colitis.