PPI-CoAttNet: A Web Server for Protein–Protein Interaction Tasks Using a Coattention Model

Abstract

Predicting protein–protein interactions (PPIs) is crucial for advancing drug discovery. Despite the proposal of numerous advanced computational methods, these approaches often suffer from poor usability for biologists and lack generalization. In this study, we designed a deep learning model based on a coattention mechanism that was capable of both PPI and site prediction and used this model as the foundation for PPI-CoAttNet, a user-friendly, multifunctional web server for PPI prediction. This platform provides comprehensive services for online PPI model training, PPI and site prediction, and prediction of interactions with proteins associated with highly prevalent cancers. In our Homo sapiens test set for PPI prediction, PPI-CoAttNet achieved an AUC of 0.9841 and an F1 score of 0.9440, outperforming most state-of-the-art models. Additionally, these results are generated in real time, delivering outcomes within minutes. We also evaluated PPI-CoAttNet for downstream tasks, including novel E3 ligase scoring, demonstrating outstanding accuracy. We believe that this tool will empower researchers, especially those without computational expertise, to leverage AI for accelerating drug development.