Patent ID: 7642047

Claim:
A method of screening caspase-2 and caspase-7-dependent cell death pathway modulators of neuronal cells in a glail cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF)-dependent cell culture system, comprising the steps of: removing GDNF from the culture system; introducing a candidate modulator agent into the culture system; determining the activity of at least caspase-2, caspase-3 and caspase-7 in a cultured neuronal cell from said culture system; and identifying said candidate modulator agent as a stimulator of caspase-2 and caspase-7-dependent cell death pathway, if the activity of caspase-2 and caspase-7, and/or the amount of caspase-2 and caspase-7 mRNA or protein is detected to be higher in the presence of the candidate modulator agent than in its absence and caspase-3 is determined to be not activated by the presence of the candidate modulator agent, or identifying said candidate modulator agent as an inhibitor of caspase-2 and caspase-7-dependent cell death pathway, if the activity of caspase-2 and caspase-7 and/or the amount of caspase-2 and caspase-7 mRNA or protein is detected to be lower in the presence of the candidate modulator agent than in its absence and caspase-3 is determined to be not activated by the presence of the candidate modulator agent.