The cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk)-associated protein phosphatase (KAP) is a human dual-specificity protein phosphatase that dephosphorylates Cdk2 on a conserved threonine residue, T160, in a cyclin dependent manner. Several aberrant KAP transcripts with characteristic deletion regions have been identified in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues. In this report, we demonstrated that multiple aberrant KAP transcripts were also present in a hepatoblastoma cell line (HepG2), albeit harboring a totally different set of deletions. By performing yeast two-hybrid and co-immunoprecipitation experiments, a KAP-Cdk2 interaction domain located in the amino acid 1-34 region was identified. This interaction domain was different from the major protein interface deduced from crystal structure analysis. Using a yeast three-hybrid system, it was shown that the presence of a truncated KAP mutant encoding this interaction domain abolished the wild-type KAP-Cdk2 interaction. In conclusion, a previously unidentified KAP-Cdk2 interaction domain was discovered. Truncated KAP mutants containing this domain interfered with the wild-type KAP-Cdk2 interaction. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.