Biochemistry. An absorbing study of cholesterol

Abstract

We obtain sterols from the animal and plant food that we eat. How these plant and animal sterols are absorbed, transported around the body, and excreted has been the subject of much investigation. In a Perspective, Allayee and colleagues discuss a new study (Berge et al.) that implicates two new ABC transporter proteins in the efflux of plant and animal sterols from gut epithelial cells into the gut lumen.