Multi-level bioinformatics resources support drug target discovery of protein-protein interactions.

Drug Discov Today

National Key Laboratory of Green Pesticide, Key Laboratory of Pesticide & Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education, International Joint Research Center for Intelligent Biosensor Technology and Health, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, PR China. Electronic address:

Published: May 2024


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Article Abstract

Drug discovery often begins with a new target. Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) are crucial to multitudinous cellular processes and offer a promising avenue for drug-target discovery. PPIs are characterized by multi-level complexity: at the protein level, interaction networks can be used to identify potential targets, whereas at the residue level, the details of the interactions of individual PPIs can be used to examine a target's druggability. Much great progress has been made in target discovery through multi-level PPI-related computational approaches, but these resources have not been fully discussed. Here, we systematically survey bioinformatics tools for identifying and assessing potential drug targets, examining their characteristics, limitations and applications. This work will aid the integration of the broader protein-to-network context with the analysis of detailed binding mechanisms to support the discovery of drug targets.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drudis.2024.103979DOI Listing

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