Leukocyte cell surface enzymology: CD45 (LCA, T200) is a protein tyrosine phosphatase

During 1987, striking advances were made in defining the receptors and ligands for cell-to-cell adhesion interactions involving leukocytes. In 1988, two major leukocyte differentiation antigens, CD10 (cALLA) and CD45 (LCA, T200), were shown to be enzymes while two other markers, CD4 and CD8, were found to be associated with an enzyme. In this article, Ed Clark and Jeff Ledbetter discuss recent findings in the emerging area of leukocyte cell surface enzymology with emphasis on CD45, a membrane-associated protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTPase)2,3.