Patent ID: 7666611

Claim:
A method of screening for a candidate compound that acts as an agonist of a G protein-coupled receptor p2y9, comprising: (a) preparing a first group and a second group of cells that express the G protein-coupled receptor p2y9 on the cell surfaces; (b) adding LPA to the cell surfaces of the first group of cells; (c) monitoring an intracellular activity in the first group of cells, said intracellular activity being associated with binding of LPA to p2y9; (d) adding said candidate compound to the second group of cells; (e) monitoring an intracellular activity in the second group of cells, said intracellular activity being the same as the intracellular activity of step (c); (f) comparing the intracellular activity in step (c) with the intracellular activity in step (e); and (g) determining whether said candidate compound is an agonist of the G protein-coupled receptor p2y9 based on the comparison in step (f), wherein said G protein-coupled receptor p2y9 comprises seven transmembrane regions, and wherein said G protein-coupled receptor p2y9 comprises an amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1.