Adenovirus e4 proteins for inducing cell death

摘要

The present invention relates to a pharmaceutical agent for induction of apoptosis for the treatment of human diseases which involve inappropriate cell survival, which includes adenovirus E4orf4, an analog or a biologically active fragment thereof and/or adenovirus E4orf6, an analog or a biologically active fragment thereof. There is also provided a pharmaceutical composition for the treatment of human diseases which involve inappropriate cell survival, which comprises a therapeutic amount of adenovirus E4orf4, an analog or a biologically active fragment thereof and/or adenovirus E4orf6, an analog or a biologically active fragment thereof in association with a pharmaceutical carrier. Included in the invention are methods for identifying compounds as analogs of the adenovirus E4 death proteins.