Patent ID: 7094529

Claim:
A method of screening a compound to determine whether the compound affects caspase activation induced by a viral reaper protein, said method comprising: a) obtaining a vertebrate cell extract in which the addition of isolated viral reaper protein induces detectable caspase activation; b) adding isolated viral reaper protein having at least 50% sequence similarity to SEQ ID NO:2 and capable of inducing caspase activation in a vertebrate cell, and a test compound, to said vertebrate cell extract; c) measuring caspase activation; and d) comparing caspase activation that occurs in the presence of the test compound to that which would be expected in the absence of the test compound; where a decrease in caspase activation compared to that which would be expected in the absence of the test compound indicates that said compound inhibits viral reaper-induced caspase activation, and an increase in caspase activation compared to that which would be expected in the absence of the test compound indicates that said test compound enhances viral reaper-induced caspase activation.