Patent ID: 8048672

Claim:
A method for identifying a compound that modulates the activity of a T-bet polypeptide, comprising providing a recombinant cell that comprises an expression vector encoding the T-bet polypeptide, wherein the T-bet polypeptide binds a consensus T-box site in DNA and induces IFN-γ production in CD4+ cells, and wherein said expression vector comprises: 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; said recombinant cell further comprising: v) a nucleic acid molecule comprising a Tbox binding site to which the T-bet polypeptide binds; contacting the recombinant cell with a test compound; and evaluating the effect of the test compound by determining the binding of the T-bet polypeptide to the nucleic acid molecule comprising the T-box binding site in the presence and absence of the test compound, to thereby identify a compound that modulates the activity of the T-bet polypeptide.