Patent ID: 8323970

Claim:
A method for identifying a compound which modulates stable adherence of a T cell to a vascular endothelial cell, comprising: a) contacting a T cell with a test compound; b) assaying for modulation of a biological activity of T-bet in the presence of said test compound, wherein a decrease in a biological activity of T-bet by the compound identifies the test compound as a compound that inhibits stable adherence of a T cell to a vascular endothelial cell, and an increase in a biological activity of T-bet by the compound identifies the test compound as a compound that enhances stable adherence of a T cell to a vascular endothelial cell, wherein T-bet binds a consensus T-box site in DNA and induces IFN-γ production in CD4+ cells, and wherein T-bet is encoded by (i) a nucleic acid molecule which hybridizes to the full length complement of the nucleic acid molecule set forth in SEQ ID NO:1 in 6×SSC at 45° C., followed by one or more washes in 0.2×SSC, 0.1% SDS at 65° C.; or ii) a nucleic acid molecule which hybridizes to the full length complement of the nucleic acid molecule set forth in SEQ ID NO:3 in 6×SSC at 45° C., followed by one or more washes in 0.2×SSC, 0.1% SDS at 65° C.; or iii) a nucleic acid molecule encoding a polypeptide with at least 90% amino acid identity to SEQ ID NO:2; or iv) a nucleic acid molecule encoding a polypeptide with at least 90% amino acid identity to SEQ ID NO:4.