Patent ID: 7794955

Claim:
A method for screening a candidate compound for its ability to interact with at least one transmembrane protein comprising: transfecting a eukaryotic cell with at least one nucleotide sequence encoding an NLS-containing transmembrane protein and permitting expression of the encoded protein in the cell; contacting the cell with a candidate compound; and determining the level of NLS-containing transmembrane protein remaining at the cell membrane by isolating the cell membrane fraction of the cell, contacting the fraction with a labelled ligand of the transmembrane protein and determining the level of binding of the ligand to the fraction; wherein detection of an altered level of the transmembrane protein at the cell membrane relative to the level at the cell membrane in a control cell not contacted with the candidate compound indicates that the compound interacts with the transmembrane protein, and the wild type transmembrane protein lacks an NLS and the nucleotide sequence encoding the transmembrane protein is modified to encode an NLS.