Patent ID: 6849405

Claim:
A method for assaying a test compound for its ability to alter the expression of the human amyloid precursor protein, comprising: a) preparing a vector for recombinantly expressing a peptide or protein in a eukatyotic cell, wherein said vector comprises: i) a promoter which is active in said eukaryotic cell; ii) a translation enhancer element consisting essentially of the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, wherein said element is 3′ to said promoter; iii) a DNA sequence encoding said peptide or protein, wherein said DNA sequence: aa) lies 3′ to said translation enhancer element; bb) is operably linked to said promoter; and cc) is non-homologous to said translation enhancer element; b) measuring the expression of said peptide or protein in said vector in the absence of said test compound; and c) comparing the expression determined in step b) with the expression of said peptide or protein in the presence of said test compound.