P212121

As we have discussed previously, protein complexes are not for the faint of heart. A tremendous amount of research has been done in designing inhibitors of protein function. A new area that is gaining interest is in the inhibition of protein-protein interactions and not that of single proteins (here is review from Nature in 2004 as well as inhibitors serving as mimics). A number of resources have brought together known structural information about these interactions.

2P2I Database:
The 2P2I Database brings to light protein-protein interactions that are deposited in the PDB (ref). Currently, the database contains 17 protein-protein structures and 56 protein-inhibitor heterocomplexes. A cut off of 2 angstroms was used when selecting which protein-protein complexes from the PDB. Finally, you can also adjust six key descriptors to estimate the druggability of the target (lower the better). I wonder how accurate this tool will prove to be as more protein-protein interactions come to light.

TIMBAL Database:
TIMBAL contains small molecules disrupting protein-protein interactions (pubs). In addition, to containing structures from the PDB, the database allows you to refine your search by affinity and activity information. The database outputs the small molecule structure along with the appropriate reference. If you are looking for information related to drug discovery then the database CREDO is also worth a look.

What do you think about this emerging area?