Here we show that the interaction between leukemia-associated mutant Shp2 and Gab2, a scaffolding protein important for cytokine-induced PI3K/Akt signaling, was enhanced, and that the mTOR pathway was elevated in Ptpn11<sup>E76K/+</sup> leukemic cells.
Gain-of-function (GOF) mutations of protein tyrosine phosphatase nonreceptor type 11 Ptpn11 (Shp2), a protein tyrosine phosphatase implicated in multiple cell signaling pathways, are associated with childhood leukemias and solid tumors.
This study reveals the critical contribution of Ptpn11 mutations in the bone marrow microenvironment to leukaemogenesis and identifies CCL3 as a potential therapeutic target for controlling leukaemic progression in Noonan syndrome and for improving stem cell transplantation therapy in Noonan-syndrome-associated leukaemias.
Activating mutations of SHP2 have been associated with developmental pathologies such as Noonan syndrome and are found in multiple cancer types, including leukaemia, lung and breast cancer and neuroblastoma.
Src homology region 2-containing protein tyrosine phosphatase 2 (Shp2) is associated with breast cancer, leukaemia, lung cancer, liver cancer, gastric cancer, laryngeal cancer, oral cancer and other cancer types.
Here, we report that induction of the Ptpn11(E76K/+) mutation, the most common and active Ptpn11 mutation found in leukemias and solid tumors, in primary mouse embryonic fibroblasts resulted in proliferative arrest and premature senescence.
Discovery of the new binding partners for disease-related SHP2 mutants might provide a fruitful foundation for developing strategies targeting Noonan-associated leukemia.
Activating mutations in PTPN11 (encoding SHP2), a protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) that plays an overall positive role in growth factor and cytokine signaling, are directly associated with the pathogenesis of Noonan syndrome and childhood leukemias.
These findings demonstrate that Shp2 positively contributes to FLT3-ITD-induced leukemia and suggest that Shp2 inhibition may provide a novel therapeutic approach to AML.
To elucidate the biochemical networks connecting the Kit mutant to leukemogenesis, in the present study, we performed a global profiling of tyrosine-phosphorylated proteins from mutant Kit-driven murine leukemia proerythroblasts and identified Shp2 and Stat5 as proximal effectors of Kit.
The human gene Ptpn11, which encodes the tyrosine phosphatase Shp2, may act as a proto-oncogene because dominantly activating mutations have been detected in several types of leukemia.
We now know that at least one other PTP, the SH2 domain-containing phosphatase Shp2, is a bona fide oncogene that is mutated in several types of leukemia and hyperactivated by other mechanisms in some solid tumors.
Given the association between NS and an increased risk of some malignancies, notably leukemia and probably some solid tumors including neuroblastoma (NB) and rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), recent studies have reported that gain-of-function somatic mutations in PTPN11 occur in some hematological malignancies, especially de novo juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) and in some solid tumors such as NB, although at a low frequency.
Here, we review recent information that has elucidated further the types and effects of PTPN11 defects in Noonan syndrome and compare them to the related, but specific, missense PTPN11 mutations causing other diseases including LEOPARD syndrome and leukemias.
Our results document a strict correlation between the identity of the lesion and disease and demonstrate that NS-causative mutations have less potency for promoting SHP-2 gain of function than do leukemia-associated ones.
We report here that although no such mutations were detected in 44 adult leukemia patients screened, Shp2 expression levels were significantly elevated in primary leukemia cells and leukemia cell lines, as compared with normal hematopoietic progenitor cells.