The apoptosis protection by plasminogen activator inhibitor-2(PAI-2) is dependent on a 33 amino acid fragment between helix C and D of PAI-2 which is probably due to the interaction of PAI-2 with unknown intracellular proteins. In this study, we used the fragment between helix C and D of PAI-2 as bait to screen a HeLa cell cDNA library constructed during apoptosis in a yeast two-hybrid system and retrieved a clone encoding 241 amino acids of proteasome (prosome, macropain) subunit, beta type 1(PSMβ1) which plays important roles in NF-κB activation. GST-pulldown experiments confirmed the interaction between PAI-2 and PSMβ1 in vitro. These data suggest that the antiapoptosis activity of PAI-2 is probably related to its interation with PSMβ1.