To establish the importance of T cells in HRS-induced myositis, we immunized different strains of congenic C57BL/6 mice containing various defects in T cell distribution and/or signaling pathways with recombinant HRS, a fusion protein consisting of amino acids 1-151 of murine HRS fused to Maltose Binding Protein (MBP). The gene discussed is MBP; the disease is myositis disease.