Patent ID: 6858578

Claim:
A method of lowering the amount of an endogenously produced substance in an extracellular fluid of a subject, comprising administering to the subject a chimeric protein comprising a functional domain and a carrier domain, wherein the functional domain comprises a ligand-binding domain of a first receptor, wherein the ligand-binding domain binds an endogenously produced substance; the carrier domain comprises an amino acid sequence which binds a mammalian cell surface receptor other than the first receptor, wherein (a) the amino acid sequence is from a protein other than the first receptor, and (b) the cell surface receptor is selected from the group consisting of low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), transferrin receptors, asialoglycoprotein receptors, adenovirus receptors, retrovirus receptors, lipoprotein (a) receptors, LDLR-like protein (LRP) receptors, acetylated LDLR, mannose receptors and mannose-6-phosphate receptors, such that the chimeric protein binds to the endogenously produced substance in the extracellular fluid of the subject and to the cell surface receptor on the cell, whereupon the cell surface receptor on the cell transports the chimeric protein and the endogenously produced substance into the cell, thereby lowering the amount of the endogenously produced substance in the extracellular fluid of a subject.