Protein-Protein Interactions as Drug Targets

• Since protein-protein interaction (PPI) is critical for normal and tumor cell signal transduction pathways, it makes them attractive targets for developing therapeutic molecules. Based on a recent D&MD survey of industry experts, development in the area of PPI is growing tremendously each year, and the majority of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies are developing therapeutic molecules that somehow affect PPI. Small molecules, antibodies, peptides, and proteins fall into the category of molecules that can inhibit PPI. In addition, a large number of companies are developing small molecules that are derived from protein sequences of interacting proteins. As increasingly more proteins are isolated, cloned, sequenced, and characterized for their function in signal transduction and networking with other proteins, the therapeutic applications of PPI targeting is widening.