Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 23, 2025

Assessing Cellular Target Engagement by SHP2 PTPN11 Phosphatase Inhibitors
Published on: July 17, 2020
PP2A Phosphatase as an Emerging Viral Host Factor
Michal Slawomir Barski1, Jordan James Minnell1, Goedele Noella Maertens1
1Department of Infectious Disease, Section of Molecular Virology, St Mary's Hospital, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) is one of the most ubiquitous cellular proteins and is responsible for the vast majority of Ser/Thr phosphatase activity in eukaryotes. PP2A is a heterotrimer, and its assembly, intracellular localization, enzymatic activity, and substrate specificity are subject to dynamic regulation. Each of its subunits can be targeted by viral proteins to hijack and modulate its activity and downstream signaling to the advantage of the virus. Binding to PP2A is known to be essential to the life cycle of many viruses and seems to play a particularly crucial role for oncogenic viruses, which utilize PP2A to transform infected cells through controlling the cell cycle and apoptosis. Here we summarise the latest developments in the field of PP2A viral targeting; in particular recent discoveries of PP2A hijacking through molecular mimicry of a B56-specific motif by several different viruses. We also discuss the potential as well as shortcomings for therapeutic intervention in the face of our current understanding of viral PP2A targeting.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Leaky Scanning
Viruses with RNA Genomes
Subviral Agents
Mechanisms of Retrovirus-induced Cancers
Phosphoinositides and PIPs
Different phosphoinositides are synthesized and recruited on the cytosolic face of the plasma membrane. The localization of specific phosphoinositides concentrated in separate membrane...

