Patent ID: 7422854

Claim:
A method for testing the propensity of a test compound to reduce serum cholesterol in a subject, the method comprising: a) administering an effective amount of the test compound to a rat for a selected period of time; b) determining the change in expression level of each of a plurality of cholesterol reduction indicator genes in a liver tissue sample from said rat, wherein said plurality of indicator genes comprises the genes with GenBank accession numbers: BF553500 (SEQ ID NO: 1), D86345 (SEQ ID NO: 2), NM — 012521 (SEQ ID NO: 3), and NM — 013033 (SEQ ID NO: 4); c) determining the statistical significance of the change in the expression level of each of said cholesterol reduction indicator genes; d) assigning a probability of serum cholesterol reduction due to said test compound if each of said plurality of indicator genes exhibits a statistically significant increase in expression level equal to or greater than its mean T g value listed in Table 2.