Patent ID: 7989172

Claim:
A method of identifying a compound capable of modulating the Th2 polarization of CD4+ lymphocytes, the method comprising: (a) contacting said compound with naïve CD4+ lymphocytes; (b) inducing the Th2 polarization of the lymphocytes by contacting said lymphocytes with IL-4; (c) preparing a gene expression profile comprising one or more genes selected from the group consisting of: AW629527, AI969697, AI610684, AW152437, AW139719, R14890, AA489100, MGC16044, CGI-72, and ZNF443, from the lymphocytes; (d) comparing the lymphocyte gene expression profile obtained from step (c) to a gene expression profile obtained from lymphocytes contacted with IL-4 but not contacted with the compound, wherein said gene expression profiles of steps (c) and (d) comprise the expression of the selected gene(s); (e) wherein a difference in the level of expression of the selected gene(s) in the expression profile of step (c) compared to the expression profile of step (d) indicates that the compound modulates the Th2 polarization of CD4+ lymphocytes.