Niemann-Pick C1 Like 1 protein is critical for intestinal cholesterol absorption.

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Altmann SW, Davis HR Jr, Zhu LJ, Yao X, Hoos LM, Tetzloff G, Iyer SP, Maguire M, Golovko A, Zeng M, Wang L, Murgolo N, Graziano MP

Niemann-Pick C1 Like 1 protein is critical for intestinal cholesterol absorption.

Science. 2004 Feb 20;303(5661):1201-4.

PubMed ID

14976318 [ View in PubMed

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Abstract

Dietary cholesterol consumption and intestinal cholesterol absorption contribute to plasma cholesterol levels, a risk factor for coronary heart disease. The molecular mechanism of sterol uptake from the lumen of the small intestine is poorly defined. We show that Niemann-Pick C1 Like 1(NPC1L1) protein plays a critical role in the absorption of intestinal cholesterol. NPC1L1 expression is enriched in the small intestine and is in the brush border membrane of enterocytes. Although otherwise phenotypically normal, NPC1L1-deficient mice exhibit a substantial reduction in absorbed cholesterol, which is unaffected by dietary supplementation of bile acids. Ezetimibe, a drug that inhibits cholesterol absorption, had no effect in NPC1L1 knockout mice, suggesting that NPC1L1 resides in an ezetimibe-sensitive pathway responsible for intestinal cholesterol absorption.

DrugBank Data that Cites this Article

Drug Targets

Drug	Target	Kind	Organism	Pharmacological Action	Actions
Ezetimibe	Niemann-Pick C1-like protein 1	Protein	Humans	Yes	Inhibitor	Details

Polypeptides

Name	UniProt ID
Niemann-Pick C1-like protein 1	Q9UHC9	Details