diff --git a/pandas/io/sas/sasreader.py b/pandas/io/sas/sasreader.py
index 2a395f790a5b5..6c43f0f7c0179 100644
--- a/pandas/io/sas/sasreader.py
+++ b/pandas/io/sas/sasreader.py
@@ -3,10 +3,13 @@
 """
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+from abc import (
+    ABCMeta,
+    abstractmethod,
+)
 from typing import (
     TYPE_CHECKING,
     Hashable,
-    Protocol,
     overload,
 )
 
@@ -28,16 +31,19 @@
     from pandas import DataFrame
 
 
-class ReaderBase(Protocol):
+# TODO(PY38): replace with Protocol in Python 3.8
+class ReaderBase(metaclass=ABCMeta):
     """
     Protocol for XportReader and SAS7BDATReader classes.
     """
 
+    @abstractmethod
     def read(self, nrows: int | None = None) -> DataFrame:
-        ...
+        pass
 
+    @abstractmethod
     def close(self) -> None:
-        ...
+        pass
 
     def __enter__(self) -> ReaderBase:
         return self
@@ -173,4 +179,4 @@ def read_sas(
         return reader
 
     with reader:
-        return reader.read()
+        return reader.read()
\ No newline at end of file