Patent ID: 7081360

Claim:
A mutant mammalian IL8A receptor having an amino acid sequence which differs from a wild type IL8A receptor having a wild type amino acid sequence comprising an amino acid motif (X 1 X 2 X 3 X 4 ) proximal to the carboxy terminal end of said wild type amino acid sequence, wherein: X 1 denotes an amino acid residue at position 1 of said motif and is selected from the group consisting of Phe, Leu, Val, and Tyr; X 2 denotes an amino acid residue at position 2 of said motif and is selected from the group consisting of Phe, Lys and Gln; X 3 denotes an amino acid residue at position 3 of said motif and is selected from the group consisting of Leu, Arg, Glu, Asn, Gln, Ser, Ala, Leu; and X 4 denotes an amino acid residue at position 4 of said motif and is selected from the group consisting of Ala, Cys, Asp, Glu, Gly, Ser, Thr and Tyr; and wherein said mutant receptor comprises a seventh transmembrane domain with a carboxy terminal end; and at least one amino acid mutation at a position in said amino acid motif, wherein said mutation is selected from the group consisting of: Arg to Trp at position 73, Met to Ile at position 246, and Gly to Arg at position 320, wherein upon interaction with a ligand to modulate a signal transduction pathway in a cell, a signal generated by said mutant receptor is greater than a signal generated upon interaction of said ligand with a wild type IL8A receptor.