Structure of SOCS and uses thereof

A method of identifying a compound which binds SOCS, the method comprising:

• i) generating a three-dimensional structure model of
• a) amino acids 22-185, or subset thereof, of SOCS having the atomic coordinates as provided in Table 1, or,
• b) a structure having a root mean square deviation less than about 1.5 Å when superimposed on the corresponding backbone atoms of a), and
• ii) designing or screening for a compound which potentially binds the structure.

A computer-based method of identifying a compound which mimics SOCS activity, the method comprising

• i) generating a three-dimensional structure model of
• a) amino acids 22-185, or subset thereof, of SOCS having the atomic coordinates as provided in Table 1, or,
• b) a structure having a root mean square deviation less than about 1.5 Å when superimposed on the corresponding backbone atoms of a), and
• ii) fitting the structure to that of a candidate compound.

A computer for producing a three-dimensional representation of a molecule or molecular complex, wherein the computer comprises:

• i) a machine-readable data storage medium comprising a data storage material encoded with machine-readable data, wherein the machine readable data provides the structure of
• a) amino acids 22-185, or subset thereof, of SOCS having the atomic coordinates as provided in Table 1, or,
• b) a structure having a root mean square deviation less than about 1.5 Å when superimposed on the corresponding backbone atoms of a),
• ii) a working memory for storing instructions for processing the machine-readable data;
• iii) a central-processing unit coupled to the working memory and to the machine-readable data storage medium, for processing the machine-readable data into the three dimensional representation;
• and
• iv) an output hardware coupled to the central processing unit, for receiving the three-dimensional representation.