Patent ID: 7786103

Claim:
A method for isolating a 145 kDa protein capable of specifically binding cholesterol absorption inhibitors, comprising the steps of: i) incubating mammalian intestinal tissue or cells with a photoreactive inhibitor of cholesterol uptake which is radioactively labeled and biotin-tagged, ii) solubilizing said intestinal cells and separating the supernatant from the cell debris, iii) adding said supernatant onto streptavidin-agarose, iv) adding the eluate of said streptavidin-agarose onto a SDS-PAGE and v) excising the proteins running in a size range of 140 to 150 kDa and eluting said proteins, vi) isolating a complex comprising the 145 kDa protein bound to the photoreactive inhibitor of cholesterol uptake and vii) separating the 145 kDa protein from the cholesterol absorption inhibitor, wherein the photoreactive inhibitor of cholesterol uptake which is biotin tagged has the following structure: