Redox and zinc signalling pathways converging on protein tyrosine phosphatases

Zinc ions, though redox-inert, have either pro-antioxidant or pro-oxidant functions at critical junctures in redox metabolism and redox signalling. They are released from cells and in cells, e.g. from metallothionein, a protein that transduces redox signals into zinc signals (1). The released zinc ions inhibit enzymes such as protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs), key regulatory enzymes of cellular phosphorylation signalling. The Ki(Zn) value for inhibition of receptor PTPB is 21pM (2). The binding is about as tight as the binding of zinc to zinc metalloenzymes and suggests tonic zinc inhibition. PTP1-B (PTPN1), an enzyme regulating the insulin and leptin receptors and involved in cancer and diabetes pathobiochemistry, has a Ki(Zn) value of about 5nM (3). Zinc ions bind to the enzyme in the closed conformation when additional metal-binding ligands are brought into the vicinity of the active site. In contrast, redox reactions target cysteines in the active sites of PTPs in the open conformation. This work provides a molecular basis how hydrogen peroxide and free zinc ions generated by growth factor signalling stimulate phosphorylation signalling differentially. (Supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council UK, grant BB/K001442/1.).