Protein-protein interactions: principles, techniques, and their potential role in new drug development

A vast network of genes is inter-linked through protein-protein interactions and is critical component of almost every biological process under physiological conditions. Any disruption of the biologically essential network leads to pathological conditions resulting into related diseases. Therefore, proper understanding of biological functions warrants a comprehensive knowledge of protein-protein interactions and the molecular mechanisms that govern such processes. The importance of protein-protein interaction process is highlighted by the fact that a number of powerful techniques/methods have been developed to understand how such interactions take place under various physiological and pathological conditions. Many of the key protein-protein interactions are known to participate in disease-associated signaling pathways, and represent novel targets for therapeutic intervention. Thus, controlling protein-protein interactions offers a rich dividend for the discovery of new drug targets. Availability of various tools to study and the knowledge of human genome have put us in a unique position to understand highly complex biological network, and the mechanisms involved therein. In this review article, we have summarized protein-protein interaction networks, techniques/methods of their binding/kinetic parameters, and the role of these interactions in the development of potential tools for drug designing.