Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) Network: Recent Advances in Drug Discovery

Abstract

Background: The investigation of the cellular components, their interactions and related functions constitute the major conditions in order to understand the cell as an integrated system. More specifically, the Protein-Protein Interactions and the obtained networks are very important in the majority of biological functions and processes, while most of the proteins appear to activate their functionalities through their interaction.

Methods: Our in depth review analysis, include Sixty-five peer-reviewed research and review studies from several bibliographic databases. The most significant components were fully described, filtered, combined and analyzed in order to provide documented proofs on the Protein-Protein Interaction Network' applications in biomedicine.

Results: The Protein-Protein Interaction Network' alignment and mapping give the opportunity of further knowledge extraction concerning the evolutionary relationships between the species through conserved pathways and protein complexes. Additionally, Protein-Protein Interaction Network information has been demonstrated to be able to predict functionally orthologous proteins within sequence homology clusters. Our review analysis concluded that, while Protein- Protein Interaction was used to be characterized just by their large and plain interacting surfaces, they were considered inapplicable for drug discovery studies for a long time.

Conclusion: The present review explores multiple technologies implicated in Protein-Protein Interaction Networks, implicating their potential role in drug discovery mechanisms.

Keywords: Drug discovery; global network alignment; local network alignment; protein-protein interaction network; yeast two-hybrid system.