The extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK), the best described MAP kinase cascade, is a major signaling system by which cells transduce extracellular cues into intracellular responses. ERK is activated by phosphorylation both on tyrosine and threonine residues. Therefore, a new clas of protein-tyrosine phosphatases (PTPases) that exhibit dual catalytic activity toward both regulatory sites on ERK is of special interest in the control of intracellular signaling. This study examined the expression and regulation of the dual-specificity PTPases CL100, B23, and PAC1. Findings included differential expression of these phosphatases in diverse cell lines and an expression of all three dual-specificity PTPases in human mesangial cells (HMC), thereby allowing investigation of their regulation in a single cell line. The MEK antagonist PD 098059 and selective extracellular agonists of ERK were used to demonstrate the induction of CL100, PAC1, and B23 in response to activation of the ERK cascade. In contrast, anisomycin, an agonist of the recently described MAP kinases stress-activated protein kinase (SAPK) and p38 MAP kinase, stimulated CL100 gene expression but had little effect on PAC1 and B23. This effect of anisomycin was partly inhibited in the presence of the p38 MAP kinase antagonist SB 203580. This study suggests a potential mechanism to regulate ERK activity through feedback inhibition by demonstrating the ERK cascade's induction of the dual-specificity PTPases CL100, PAC1, and B23. Moreover, this study suggests an ERK-independent induction of CL100 following stimulation of SAPK and p38 MAP kinase. This mode of induction of a phosphatase capable of inactivating ERK may play an important role in the cellular stress response.
Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases: Mechanisms in Cancer
