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Making protein interactions druggable: targeting PDZ domains.

Dev KK

Neuroscience Research, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Novartis Pharma AG, WSJ-386.7.43, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland. kumlesh_k.dev@pharma.novartis.com

Modulating protein-protein interactions involved in disease pathways is an attractive strategy for developing drugs, but remains a challenge to achieve. One approach is to target certain domains within proteins that mediate these interactions. One example of such a domain is the PDZ domain, which is involved in interactions between many different proteins in a variety of cellular contexts. Because PDZ domains have well-defined binding sites, they are promising targets for drug discovery. However, there is still much to learn about the function of these domains before drugs targeting PDZ interactions can become a reality.

Published 1 December 2004 in Nat Rev Drug Discov, 3(12): 1047-56.
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