Mitochondrial function of prohibitin 2 (PHB2)

A method for screening for an agent for regulating a capability of a PHB2 protein to interact with a protein that is encoded by a gene selected from the group consisting of a VDAC2 gene, a Hax-1 gene, an ANT2 gene and an OPA1 gene, the method comprising:

• contacting cells expressing a PHB2 gene with a candidate substance by adding the candidate substance to a culture comprising the cells;
• and
• determining that the candidate substance is the agent for regulating the capability of the PHB2 protein to interact with the protein that is encoded by the gene selected from the group consisting of the VDAC2 gene, the Hax-1 gene, the ANT2 gene and the OPA1 gene if the candidate substance regulates the capability of the PHB2 protein to interact with the protein that is encoded by the gene selected from the group consisting of the VDAC2 gene, the Hax-1 gene, the ANT2 gene and the OPA1 gene in the cells expressing the PHB2 gene caused to come into contact with the candidate substance, when the cells are compared with cells expressing the PHB2 gene in the absence of the candidate substance.