Patent ID: 7186515

Claim:
A method for identifying a compound that modulates a process selected from the group consisting of heat shock protein (hereinafter “HSP”) binding activity, HSP uptake activity, and HSP-mediated antigen representation activity, comprising: (a) contacting a test compound with: (i) a ligand-binding fragment of an alpha (2) macroglobulin (hereinafter “α2M”) receptor; and (ii) a purified HSP, or a receptor-binding fragment thereof, or a purified HSP-peptide complex; and (b) measuring the level of HSP binding activity, HSP uptake activity, or HSP-mediated antigen representation activity, such that if the level of HSP binding activity, HSP uptake activity, or HSP-mediated antigen representation activity measured in (b) differs from the level of HSP binding activity, HSP uptake activity, or HSP-mediated antigen representation activity in the absence of the test compound, then a compound that modulates said process is identified.