Patent ID: 8014954

Claim:
A method of determining whether an agent is more like a partial agonist of a target molecule than a full agonist of the same target molecule, the method comprising the steps of: (a) comparing the magnitude of gene expression of a first population of genes, in cells of a cell type, in response to an agent to the magnitude of gene expression of the first population of genes, in cells of the cell type, in response to a full agonist of a target molecule, to produce a first comparison result, wherein the first population of genes is an efficacy-related population of genes that consists of a population of 29 genes that each hybridize under stringent conditions to a different member of the group of nucleic acid molecules consisting of SEQ ID NOS:1-29, and wherein the first comparison result is represented by a first numerical value; (b) comparing the magnitude of gene expression of a second population of genes, in cells of the cell type, in response to the agent to the magnitude of gene expression of the second population of genes, in cells of the cell type, in response to the full agonist of the target molecule, to produce a second comparison result, wherein the second population of genes is a toxicity-related population of genes that consists of a population of 11 genes that each hybridize under stringent conditions to a different member of the group of nucleic acid molecules consisting of SEQ ID NOS:30-40, and wherein the second comparison result is represented by a second numerical value; and (c) using the first numerical value and the second numerical value to determine whether the agent is more like a partial agonist of the target molecule than the full agonist of the target molecule, wherein any part of step (a) can occur before, during, or after any part of step (b), wherein steps (a), (b), and (c) are performed by a suitably programmed computer.