Protein-protein interactions are important for nearly all biological processes, and it is known that aberrant protein-protein interactions can lead to human disease and cancer. Recent evidence has suggested that protein interaction interfaces describe a new class of attractive targets for drug development. Full characterization of protein interaction networks of protein complexes and their dynamics in response to various cellular cues will provide essential information for us to understand how protein complexes work together in cells to maintain cell viability and normal homeostasis. Affinity purification coupled with quantitative mass spectrometry has become the primary method for studying in vivo protein interactions of protein complexes and whole organism proteomes. Recent developments in sample preparation and affinity purification strategies allow the capture, identification, and quantification of protein interactions of protein complexes that are stable, dynamic, transient, and/or weak. Essential biological processes in cells such as DNA replication, transcription, translation, protein degradation, and cell cycle control are carried out by an assembly of protein molecules that interact and form multisubunit protein complexes (1-5). These macromolecular complexes are important cellular machineries that work hand in hand to maintain normal cell homeostasis. Although the function of each individual subunit is important, the function of the complex as a whole is not simply the sum of its individual components (6 -8). Traditional biochemical methods focus on characterizing a single protein.Although still valid and useful, these methods cannot account for the complexity of macromolecular protein machines. Recently, technological developments in mass spectrometrybased proteomics approaches have made comprehensive characterization of protein complexes possible by enabling the determination of dynamic protein complex compositions, stoichiometries, posttranslational modifications, assemblies, structures, and protein interaction networks (8 -17). This review will report the advances in the study of protein-protein interactions by mass spectrometry.Protein-protein interactions are important for nearly all biological processes, and it is known that aberrant protein-protein interactions can lead to human disease and cancer (18 -20). Sufficient evidence has demonstrated that modulation of protein-protein binding represents an emerging therapeutic paradigm, and protein interaction interfaces describe a new class of attractive targets for drug development. For example, inactivation of tumor suppressor p53 has been implicated in various cancers, and one mechanism of inactivation is the inappropriate interaction with the E3 ubiquitin ligase MDM2, leading to excessive degradation of p53 (21). Disruption of this interaction by small molecule inhibitors has shown promise as a potential tool for cancer treatment (21-25). Current work has illustrated how generating protein interaction networks of protein complexes and profiling t...