[Research progress of several protein tyrosine phosphatases in diabetes]

Diabetes mellitus is caused by deficiency of insulin secretion from the pancreatic islet beta cells and/or insulin resistance in liver, muscle and adipocytes, resulting in glucose intolerance and hyperglycemia. Several protein tyrosine phosphatases, such as PTP1B (PTPN1), TCPTP (PTPN2), LYP (PTPN22), PTPIA-2, PTPMEG2 (PTPN9) or OSTPTP are involved in insulin signaling pathway, insulin secretion and autoreactive attack to pancreatic beta cells. Genetic mutation or overexpression of these phosphotases has been found to cause or increase the risk of diabetes mellitus. Some population with high risk for type 2 diabetes has overexpressed PTP1B, a prototypical tyrosine phosphatase which down-regulates insulin and leptin signal transduction. Animal PTP1B knockout model and PTP1B specific inhibitor cellular studies indicate PTP1B may serve as a therapeutic target for type 2 diabetes. TCPTP shares more than 70% sequence identity with PTP1B in their catalytic domain. TCPTP dephosphorylates tyrosine phosphorylated substrates overlapping with PTP1B but also has its own distinct dephosphorylation sites and functions. Recent research indicates TCPTP may have role in type 1 diabetes via dysregultaion of cytokine-mediated immune responses or pancreatic beta cell apoptosis. The tyrosine phosphatase LYP, which down-regulates LCK activity in T cell response, can become mutated as R620W which is highly correlated to type 1 diabetes. LYP R620W may be a gain of function mutation which suppresses TCR signaling. Patients bearing the R620W mutant have impaired T cell responses and increased populations of (CD45RO+CD45RA-) CD4+ T cells. A detailed elucidation of mechanism of R620W in type 1 diabetes and specific LYP inhibitor development will help characterize LYP R620W as a therapeutic target. A receptor tyrosine phosphatase, PTPIA-2/beta is a major autoantigen of type 1 diabetes. A diagnosis kit identifying PTPIA-2/beta autoantibodies is valuable in early detection and prevention of type 1 diabetes. In addition, other phosphatase like OSTPTP and PTPMEG2 are involved in type 2 diabetes via regulation of insulin production, beta cell growth or insulin signaling. Research into understanding the mechanism of these tyrosine phosphatases in diabetes, such as their precise functions in the regulation of insulin secretion, the insulin response and the immune response will strengthen our knowledge of diabetes pathophysiology which may result in new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for diabetes.