A yeast two-hybrid system for the screening and characterization of small-molecule inhibitors of protein-protein interactions identifies a novel putative Mdm2-binding site in p53.

Background: Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) are fundamental to the growth and survival of cells and serve as excellent targets to develop inhibitors of biological processes such as host-pathogen interactions and cancer cell proliferation. However, isolation of PPI inhibitors is extremely challenging. While several in vitro assays to screen for PPI inhibitors are available, they are often expensive, cumbersome, and require large amounts of purified protein.