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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 277, Issue 22, 19982-19990, May 31, 2002
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From
Received for publication, January 18, 2002, and in revised form, March 15, 2002
Protein-tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) has
recently received much attention as a potential drug target in type 2 diabetes. This has in particular been spurred by the finding that PTP1B knockout mice show increased insulin sensitivity and resistance to
diet-induced obesity. Surprisingly, the highly homologous T cell
protein-tyrosine phosphatase (TC-PTP) has received much less attention,
and no x-ray structure has been provided. We have previously co-crystallized PTP1B with a number of low molecular weight inhibitors that inhibit TC-PTP with similar efficiency. Unexpectedly, we were not able to co-crystallize TC-PTP with the same set of inhibitors. This seems to be due to a multimerization process where residues 130-132, the DDQ loop, from one molecule is inserted into the active
site of the neighboring molecule, resulting in a continuous string of
interacting TC-PTP molecules. Importantly, despite the high degree of
functional and structural similarity between TC-PTP and PTP1B, we have
been able to identify areas close to the active site that might be
addressed to develop selective inhibitors of each enzyme.
Protein-tyrosine phosphatases
(PTPs)1 are key regulators of
signal transduction processes (1, 2). The family of classical PTPs can
be divided into two broad categories as intracellular and receptor-like
PTPs covering a total of 17 subtypes (3). Receptor-like PTPs contain an
extracellular domain, a single transmembrane domain, and one or two
cytoplasmic PTP domains. Intracellular PTPs generally contain one PTP
domain and an N- or C-terminal domain that targets the enzymes to
specific subcellular localizations, as exemplified by the targeting of
PTP1B to the endoplasmic reticulum (4).
PTP1B and TC-PTP are two closely related intracellular enzymes. PTP1B
was the first protein-tyrosine phosphatase to be identified and
characterized (5, 6). Shortly after this landmark event, PTP1B was
cloned from a placenta cDNA library (7), and TC-PTP was cloned from
a peripheral human T cell cDNA library (8). Despite its name,
TC-PTP is ubiquitously expressed (9). Alternative splicing gives rise
to two forms of TC-PTP that differ in the C termini, a 45-kDa form that
is targeted to the nucleus and a 48-kDa form that localizes to the
endoplasmic reticulum via a hydrophobic C-terminal region (10). TC-PTP
is tightly regulated during the cell cycle and seems to play an
important role in mitogenesis (9). In a recent study, it was shown that
cellular stress causes reversible cytoplasmic accumulation of the
45-kDa form of TC-PTP (i.e. the nuclear form) (11).
Although they have a sequence identity of about 74% in the catalytic
domains (see Fig. 1), TC-PTP and PTP1B clearly fulfill different
biological functions, as has been demonstrated in knock-out mice. Thus,
although PTP1B knock-out mice show increased insulin sensitivity and
resistance to diet-induced obesity and are viable with a normal life
span (12, 13), TC-PTP knock-out mice die at 3-5 weeks of age (14).
In accordance with these in vivo observations, substrate
trapping experiments have further shown that PTP1B and TC-PTP recognize different cellular targets (15, 16). At present it is not known to
which degree this is due to different inherent substrate specificity
that resides within the catalytic domains or to other regulatory
mechanisms. For example, the activity and function of PTP1B can be
regulated at different levels, including transcription (17),
alternative splicing (18), proteolytic processing (19), and covalent
modification (i.e. phosphorylation of specific residues such
as Ser-50) (20). Likewise, as indicated above, alternative splicing may
determine which substrates are recognized by TC-PTP (i.e.
nuclear substrates by the 45-kDa form and cytoplasmic substrates by the
48-kDa form). However, by comparing substrates trapped with PTP1B and
those trapped by targeting a TC-PTP/PTP1B chimera to the endoplasmic
reticulum, Tonks and coworkers (16) provide convincing evidence that at
least part of the observed differences in substrate recognition
capacity between the two enzymes is due to differences in intrinsic
substrate specificity. Thus, fine structural differences not readily
identifiable by primary sequence analyses may account for the observed
differences in substrate recognition by PTP1B and TC-PTP. Similarly,
elegant catalytic domain-swapping experiments of two other homologous
PTPs, SHP-1 and SHP-2, clearly indicate that substantial substrate
specificity may reside in the PTP domains (21, 22). In addition, areas outside the highly conserved regions surrounding the active sites may
contribute to substrate binding (3).
Although the exact molecular mechanism(s) underlying the above
phenotype of PTP1B knock-out mice still remains to be identified, these
studies indicate that PTP1B could be an attractive drug target for
treatment of type 2 diabetes. As a consequence, PTPs have caught the
attention of the pharmaceutical industry (23). In particular, there is
a rush for developing selective PTP1B inhibitors. We have recently used
two different structure-based design approaches (attraction/repulsion
and steric fit/steric hindrance) to develop selective PTP1B inhibitors
(24, 25). Because PTP1B and TC-PTP are about 74% identical in the
catalytic domains, it is anticipated that active site-directed PTP1B
inhibitors might also bind to TC-PTP with equal potency. Indeed, we
recently showed that two active site PTP inhibitors inhibited the two
enzymes with almost identical potency. It is unclear if such potential cross-reactivity would be beneficial or perhaps cause adverse effects.
Surprisingly, although PTP1B has been the focus of numerous structural
studies (for an updated list of x-ray structures, see science.novonordisk.com/ptp), no x-ray structures have been reported for TC-PTP. Therefore, we decided to compare PTP1B and TC-PTP both at
the functional and structural levels. Similar constructs of PTP1B and
TC-PTP corresponding to the first 321 amino acid residues of the former
were compared in (i) enzyme kinetic studies, (ii) inhibitor studies
using a set of active site-directed PTP inhibitors, and (iii) by x-ray
protein crystallography. Although as expected these studies showed very
similar function and structure of the two enzymes, our analysis also
indicates that they are sufficiently different to allow a
structure-based design of inhibitors that are selective for either of them.
Cloning, Expression, and Purification--
PTP1B 1-321 and
TC-PTP 1-314 were cloned, expressed, and purified essentially as
described previously (24-26). The cDNAs encoding these PTPs were
obtained by polymerase chain reaction using primers with convenient
cloning sites and appropriate cDNA templates. The coding sequences
were confirmed by DNA sequencing. The constructs were inserted into the
pET11a expression vector, and PTP1B and TC-PTP were expressed
essentially as described previously (26). PTP1B and TC-PTP were
purified in a two-step procedure. In brief, compound 4,
which is a selective PTP1B/TC-PTP inhibitor (see Fig. 2), was coupled
to epoxy-activated Sepharose 6B (Amersham Biosciences) according to the
manufacturer's instructions (100 mg of compound 4/g of
drained column material). Lysates from Escherichia coli
producing PTP1B and TC-PTP were cleared by centrifugation and applied
to the column. The enzymes were eluted by a combined pH (6.2-9.0) and
salt gradient (0.1-1.0 M NaCl), resulting in ~90% pure
preparations. The final polishing consists of an anion exchange
purification step (Mono-Q, Amersham Biosciences). Before
crystallization, buffer exchange (see below under
"Crystallization") was performed using a Superdex 200 column (Amersham Biosciences). Further experimental details will be
published elsewhere.
Determination of Kinetic Constants and Inhibitor Constants,
Ki--
The phosphatase activity was determined using
p-nitrophenyl phosphate as substrate essentially as
described (24, 27) using a constant ionic strength three-component
buffer at pH 6.5 (28-30). The data were analyzed using nonlinear
regression hyperbolic fit to classical Michaelis-Menten enzyme kinetic
models. Inhibition is expressed as Ki values in
µM. The reported S.D. are calculated from at least three
independent experiments.
Crystallization--
An ~10 mg/ml TC-PTP in 10 mM
Tris, pH 7.5, 25 mM NaCl, 0.2 mM EDTA, and 3 mM dithiothreitol was used for crystallization. Crystals
were grown by the hanging drop vapor diffusion method. Two µl of
TC-PTP solution were mixed with 2 µl of reservoir solution consisting
of 0.05-0.25 M Hepes buffer, pH 8.0, 0.2 M
magnesium acetate, 20% polyethylene glycol 8000, and 0.1%
Data Collection--
Data were collected using a Mar345 image
plate detector on a rotating anode (RU300, CuK Molecular Replacement Solution--
A molecular replacement
solution was found using Amore (33) and PTP1B (Protein Data Bank code
1C88) as a search model (ligand and water molecules were omitted from
the structure). The search was performed in both
P41212 and P43212, with
the correct solution identified in P43212.
Refinements--
All refinements were performed using CNX
version 2000 (Accelrys). Interchanging cycles of model building using
X-build (Accelrys) and refinement were performed. To avoid phase bias
from the molecular replacement search model, 5% of the amplitudes were
omitted from the refinements and used for R-free calculations, and the
lowering of R-free was monitored during all refinements.
Water molecules were inserted using the X-solvate program
(Accelrys). The graphical interface used was Quanta (Accelrys). For further details see Table
I.
Compound Synthesis--
Compounds used here (Fig. 2) were
synthesized as described previously (25, 26).
The 1-321 PTP1B construct is the best characterized enzyme domain
within the PTP family, and its activity and structure have been studied
in numerous reports since its original identification and cloning.
Therefore, to compare directly with this gold standard in the PTP field
we decided to clone and express the similar construct of TC-PTP,
i.e. residues 1-314.
The sequence identity between the catalytic domains of TC-PTP and PTP1B
is 74% (Fig. 1) with the major
differences clustered in four stretches of amino acid residues, (i)
1-35, (ii) 129-148, (iii) 158-174, (iv) 235-246 (TC-PTP numbering
is used).
Enzyme Kinetics--
To compare PTP1B and TC-PTP at the functional
level, we first determined the steady state kinetic parameters,
kcat and Km for each enzyme
using p-nitrophenyl phosphate as substrate. As shown in
Table II, the catalytic efficiencies of
these two enzymes are almost identical, thus providing an initial
indication that the high degree of primary sequence identity also
translates into a high degree of similarity at the structural and
functional levels.
Probing the Active Site Cavity with Inhibitors--
We next probed
the active site cavities of the two enzymes with a set of PTP
inhibitors. We have previously shown that 2-(oxalylamino)-benzoic acid
(Fig. 2, compound 1) is a
general PTP inhibitor with the two carboxyl groups interacting with
conserved residues in the active sites of these enzymes (26). Of note
in the present context, we also found that an additional ring system
could dramatically change the inhibitory profiles of these compounds.
Thus, although the naphthyl-based compound 2 is a relatively
potent inhibitor of PTP-LAR at pH 5.5, the indole-based compound
3 is a poor inhibitor of this enzyme. Conversely, compound
3 is a relatively potent inhibitor of SHP-1, whereas
compound 2 is about 3-fold less potent. Accordingly, this
shows that even very close to the active site, structural differences
among PTPs can be detected with these low molecular weight
inhibitors.
As shown in Table III, only minor
differences could be demonstrated when compounds 1-4 were
analyzed for inhibitory activity against PTP1B and TC-PTP. This is in
agreement with our recent findings where two pyran-based inhibitors
were found to inhibit these two enzymes with similar efficiency (24).
Thus, we conclude that, from a functional point of view, the catalytic clefts of PTP1B and TC-PTP are very similar.
Crystallization of TC-PTP--
Although the above enzyme kinetic
characterization and inhibitor studies as well as molecular modeling
(not shown) clearly indicate that the catalytic domains of PTP1B and
TC-PTP must be very similar, protein x-ray crystallography is needed
for unequivocal structural comparison of the two enzymes. We first
attempted to co-crystallize TC-PTP with several of the above ligands
that were found to inhibit PTP1B and TC-PTP with similar potency and
for which several x-ray PTP1B-inhibitor complex structures have been reported (24-26). However, to our surprise and for reasons that will
be discussed below, we were not able to obtain any crystals of TC-PTP
complexed with any of these inhibitors. Therefore, we turned our
attention to the uncomplexed version and obtained the apo structure.
Residues 5-277 of TC-PTP were identified and built into the electron
density maps. The final structure contains two disordered loops,
117-121 and 236-242, with only backbone atoms traceable in the
2Fo
The WPD loop of TC-PTP was found in an open conformation. Thus,
all structural comparisons with PTP1B are based on the apo form of
PTP1B (Protein Data Bank code 2HNP). Overall, no differences were
identified in the secondary or tertiary structures between TC-PTP and
PTP1B. Minor differences are observed in loop areas between the two
structures (see Fig. 3). The root mean
square deviation between the TC-PTP and PTP1B structure (for all
equivalent atoms) is 1.82 Å (calculated using Quanta).
Crystal Packing--
Our lack of success in co-crystallizing
TC-PTP with inhibitors is most likely explained by unusual crystal
packing along the 21 axis (space group
P43212) involving the active site pocket and
surrounding residues. A loop corresponding to residues 130-132, the
"DDQ loop," from one molecule was inserted in the active site of a
neighboring molecule, resulting in a continuous row of TC-PTP molecules
(Fig. 4a). The active site
blockage is not limited to the DDQ loop but involves a total surface
area of 1183 Å2, with 892 Å2 of hydrophilic
and 291 Å2 of hydrophobic nature. Residues 129-133, 135, 145-148, 150, 155, 158, and 176 on one molecule form a surface patch
(inhibiting patch) that interacts with the active site on the
neighboring molecule (residues 43, 48-50, 120-121, 183-184,
216-222, 260, and 264); see Fig. 4b. The binding of the
inhibitory patch is further stabilized by several hydrogen-bonding
water molecules (see Fig. 5, a
and b). Generally speaking, the surface loop consisting of
residues 129-135 and the outermost Active Site Interface Interactions--
In the following, the
residues that belong to the patch that is on the blocking (or
inhibiting) molecule are denoted "inhibitor residues" (in italics),
whereas the residues that belong to the active site patch of the
neighboring molecule are described as "TC-PTP residues" (in bold).
Both of the carboxylic acid groups of Asp-130 and
Asp-131 from the DDQ loop hydrogen bonds to the amine side
chain group of Gln-260. Furthermore, the side chain of
Asp-131 interacts with the P loop via two
hydrogen-bonding water molecules (see details below). The amine
of Gln-132 hydrogen bonds to the amine of
Gln-264. As indicated, a number of van der Waals contacts
stabilize the complex formation as follows. (i) the C Phosphate Mimic by an Aspartic Acid and Two Water
Molecules--
As described, Asp-131 is positioned into the
active site cleft of TC-PTP. However, the carboxylic acid group is not
in direct contact with the P loop as previously seen for
charged ligands in the active site pocket of PTPs (24-26, 34-36).
Instead, two water molecules are located between the carboxyl group of Asp-131 and the P loop mediating the charge and
hydrogen bonds. These two water molecules are in a position to make
hydrogen bonds to the backbone nitrogens of Ile-220,
Gly-221, and Arg-222. Furthermore, the distance
to the sulfur atom of Cys-216 from one of the water
molecules is 3.0 Å. When the TC-PTP structure is superimposed on the
PTP1B(C215S) phosphorylated Tyr (pTyr) structure (Protein
Data Bank code 1PTV), it is apparent that the above water molecules
mimic the hydrogen-bonding function of two of the three phosphate
oxygen atoms (see Fig. 5c). The water molecules and the
phosphate oxygen atoms are not exactly superimposed (the
superimposition was performed on all protein atoms between TC-PTP and
PTP1B). However, small displacements are also observed in the position
of the P loop of TC-PTP and PTP1B. In addition to coordinating the
position of the two water molecules Asp-131 is involved in a
direct hydrogen bond to the amide of Gln-260. The
Gln-260 side chain is stretched into (or toward) the
carboxylic acid group of Asp-131, in contrast to both
structures of PTP1B (i.e. in the apo or substrate/inhibitor form, see Fig. 5, a and c). Gln-260 in TC-PTP
corresponds to the highly conserved Gln-262 in PTP1B, a residue that is
critical in the second step of substrate hydrolysis (37).
Differences in the Proximity of the Active Site Pocket--
We
have recently used low resolution homology modeling, the so-called C Conformation of the Lys-122 Loop--
In contrast to the reported
structures of other PTPs (science.novonordisk.com/ptp), the highly
conserved Lys-122 (corresponding to Lys-120 in PTP1B) is found in an
open conformation. In other PTPs the equivalent lysine residues point
toward the active site pocket and participate in defining boundaries of
the active site pocket. Although side chain movements of Lys-122
(TC-PTP numbering) have been observed in many of the reported PTP1B
structures in complex with various ligands and substrates, backbone
movements have to our knowledge not been described previously. Indeed,
superimposition of all the vertebrate PTP structures (3) shows that the
loop containing the lysine residues equivalent to Lys-122 in TC-PTP (the "Lys-122 loop") only exhibit side chain variations and not backbone differences. Therefore, the Lys-122 loop has been regarded as
structurally stable, with flexibility limited to the side chain only.
As shown in Fig. 7, Lys-122 is forced (by
crystal packing interactions described above) into a conformation
pointing away from the active site pocket, leaving the active site open
and not as the normally well defined pocket. Lys-122 moves 6 Å,
measured at backbone level between the PTP1B and TC-PTP structures. Of note, the electron density map indicates significant flexibility of the
Lys-122 loop when found in the open conformation. The Lys-122 loop is
defined by residues 116-123 and, thus, includes the invariant Glu-117,
which normally forms a salt bridge with Arg-222 in the P loop (38, 39).
This salt bridge, seen in all other PTP structures, anchors the Lys-122
loop and defines the architecture and function of the P loop. In the
TC-PTP structure reported here, there is no similar salt bridge, and as
a result, Glu-117 points into the solvent with the carboxyl group more
than 10 Å away from its normal position. Despite this, only a minor
shift in the P loop and a limited rotation of the guanidinium group of
Arg-222 are observed as the differences between the P loops of PTP1B
(2HNP) and the TC-PTP structure reported here. Therefore,
although the movement of the Lys-122 loop and Glu-117 is clearly the
result of crystal packing and probably does not reflect the normal
structure of TC-PTP, it is tempting to speculate (i) that the
importance of the Glu-117-Arg-222 salt bridge in stabilizing the P
loop may have been overestimated (or can be compensated for by ligand
or substrate binding) and (ii) that such dramatic movement may also be
induced by high affinity, low molecular weight inhibitors and, hence,
can potentially be used for the design of selective PTP inhibitors.
PTP1B was the first protein-tyrosine phosphatase to be isolated
and characterized as described in two landmark publications (5, 6).
This was soon followed by hectic cloning efforts leading to the
isolation of cDNAs encoding PTP1B, TC-PTP, and a number of other
PTPs. Although detailed enzyme kinetic, mutational, and structural
analyses of the bacterial Yersinia PTP over the years has
provided invaluable information on PTP function (40-43), PTP1B has
remained a favorite among researchers in the field. Numerous reports
have provided significant insight into the function of PTPs using PTP1B
as a model enzyme. Surprisingly, from a structural point of view, the
highly homologous TC-PTP has received much less attention. Thus,
despite the fact that TC-PTP was cloned more than a decade ago, the
x-ray structure has not yet been reported. Because PTP1B is now
considered an attractive drug target for treatment of type 2 diabetes
(23), we decided to perform a detailed functional and structural
comparison of these enzymes. In particular, we wanted to investigate if
structural studies would provide evidence that selective, low molecular
weight inhibitors for either of the two enzymes could be designed.
Using structure-based design strategies based on a combined approach
involving detailed enzyme kinetic analyses with a set of wild type and
mutant PTPs in combination with protein x-ray crystallography and
modeling, we have previously been able to develop highly selective
PTP1B inhibitors. Importantly, each step in the optimization process
was based on efficient medium to high throughput x-ray protein
crystallography of PTP1B 1-321 complexed with appropriate ligands.
Typically, the turnaround time from novel compound to novel x-ray
structure was less than a week. Therefore, it came as a surprise that
we were not able to crystallize TC-PTP in complex with inhibitors that
had also been shown to be efficient TC-PTP inhibitors. As described
above, the lack of success in these co-crystallization studies seems to
be due to a multimerization process, where residues 130-132, the DDQ
loop, from one molecule are inserted into the active site of the
neighboring molecule, resulting in a continuous string of interacting
TC-PTP molecules.
PTP1B has previously been crystallized in six different space groups
(see Table IV). In all of these
space groups, the crystal-packing arrangements for PTP1B have
never been with a direct blockage of the active site pocket and do not
utilize the residues 129-148, as seen in the current TC-PTP crystal
packing. Of note, the crystal packing for TC-PTP observed here has
never been reported for PTP1B. This difference is most likely due to
the differences in the DDQ loop (i.e. in one of the four
clusters of sequence differences between the two enzymes), which in
PTP1B is EEK, i.e. all three residues are larger than the
corresponding residues in TC-PTP, and the lysine residue, especially,
will prohibit an interaction in PTP1B as seen for TC-PTP.
Structure Determination of T Cell Protein-tyrosine
Phosphatase*
§,
¶
,
,
,
,
, and
Protein Chemistry and ¶ Signal
Transduction, Novo Nordisk, DK-2880 Bagsvaerd, Denmark,

Medicinal Chemistry Research I, Novo
Nordisk, DK-2760 Maaloev, Denmark, ** Technical University of
Denmark, Chemistry Department, MEMPHYS, DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark, and
Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Royal Danish School of
Pharmacy, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
![]()
ABSTRACT
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES
![]()
INTRODUCTION
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES
![]()
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES
-mercaptoethanol. The reservoir volume was 1 ml. Crystals grew to
the size of 0.5 × 0.3 × 0.1 mm over approximately 1 week,
and three or more weeks in total were used for crystal growth.
50 kV/100
mA) equipped with Osmic multilayer mirror system. The data collection
was performed on a single crystal at room temperature. A data set to
2.53-Å resolution was obtained. Data processing was performed using
Denzo, Scalepack, and the CCP4 program suite (31, 32). From
autoindexing and the systematic absent reflections, the space group was
determined to be P41212 or
P43212 with cell dimensions a = b = 60.5 Å and c = 187.6 Å. The
Vm was calculated to be 2.3 Å3/dalton
with a TC-PTP monomer in asymmetric unit (Vm = 2.4 Å3/dalton for the average protein crystal).
Statistics of x-ray and refinements
![]()
RESULTS
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES

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Fig. 1.
PTP1B and TC-PTP alignment. Identical
residues are typed in green, similar residues are in
blue, and different residues are in red. The
full-length sequences for both proteins are used.
Kinetic constants for the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl phosphate at
pH 6.5 and 25 °C

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Fig. 2.
Chemical structures.
Inhibition constants (K1 values in µM)
Fc electron density maps.
Cys-94 and Cys-95 both contained covalently bound
-mercaptoethanol
(used as a reducing agent during purification and crystallization). Forty water molecules were inserted during refinements.

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Fig. 3.
C
trace of TC-PTP
and PTP1B. TC-PTP is colored in light green,
and PTP1B is in yellow. The structures were
superimposed using Quanta.
-strand flanking the central
-sheet of PTPs, including residues 145-150, define the major part
of the inhibitor patch.

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Fig. 4.
Multimerization of TC-PTP. a,
crystal packing diagram down the 21 axis illustrating the
multimerization of the TC-PTP molecules. b, the upper
section shows two TC-PTP molecules from the crystal packing along
the 21 axis. One molecule is in green with the
exception of residues 129-133, 135, 145-148, 150, 155, 158, and 176, which are colored in blue; these residues form a surface
patch inhibiting the active site pocket of the other molecule. The
second molecule is colored in gray with the exception of
residues 43, 48-50, 120-121, 183-184, 216-222, 260, and 264, which
are colored in orange (Cys-216 is colored in
yellow). In the crystal packing interface four water
molecules are identified and displayed (as red van der Waals
spheres). The lower section shows the two
molecules separated and rotated ±90 degrees around the y
axis, compared with the molecules in the upper
section.

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Fig. 5.
The DDQ loop binding motif.
a, binding of Asp-131 from the DDQ loop (from one TC-PTP
molecule) and two water molecules to the active site pocket P loop and
Gln-260 (of a neighboring molecule). The atoms are colored according to
atom type: carbons are in light green (in dark
green for the Asp-131 carbon atoms), oxygens are in
red, and nitrogens are in blue. The distances for
the marked possible hydrogen bonds are in Å. b, stereo
picture of the DDQ loop, the two water molecules, Gln-260, and P loop
together with the final 2Fo
Fc
electron density map. The atoms are colored as described in
a. The 2Fo
Fc
electron density map is colored at one sigma level in blue
and three sigma level in red. c, stereo picture
of the PTP1B(C215S)-phosphotyrosine (pTyr) structure
(Protein Data Bank code 1PTV) superimposed on the TC-PTP structure for
comparison of the binding mode between the Asp-131 with water molecules
and the natural substrate phosphotyrosine. TC-PTP atoms are colored in
light green (Asp-131 in dark green), and
PTP1B(C215S)-phosphotyrosine atoms are in yellow. The
critical oxygen atoms are colored in red.
atom of
Thr-129 interacts with the C
and C
side chain atoms of
Asp-50; (ii) the Glu-133 C
atom interacts with
the C
atom of Phe-183; (iii) Leu-135 interacts
with Phe-183; (iv) Leu-145 interacts with
Tyr-48; (v) Leu-146 interacts with
Val-121; (vi) Val-150 interacts with the C
and
C
atoms of both Arg-43 and Arg-49; and finally
(vii) Leu-158 is in van der Waals contact with the C
of
Ser-120. Furthermore, the side chain hydroxyl group of
Ser-147 is in hydrogen bond contact with the backbone
carbonyl group of Ser-120, and Glu-148 hydrogen
bonds to the backbone nitrogen of Arg-49 as well as to a
water molecule that further hydrogen bonds to the backbone nitrogens of
both Arg-49 and Asp-50. Finally, the side chains
of Thr-155 and His-176 (via a water molecule) hydrogen bond with the guanidinium group of Arg-49.
variation score to identify three-dimensionally conserved and
non-conserved surface areas on PTPs (3). Furthermore, the C
variation score analysis in conjunction with primary sequence analysis
allowed the identification of unique combinations of amino acid
residues that might be addressed in structure-based design of selective
inhibitors. The present study with experimentally determined x-ray
structures of PTP1B and TC-PTP allows a direct comparison of these
enzymes at the atomic level. We have in particular focused our
attention on areas in proximity of the active site pocket,
i.e. areas that might be simultaneously addressed by active site-directed inhibitors. As illustrated in Fig.
6, the surfaces of the two enzymes are
very similar. However, two areas stand out as different and, hence,
regions that potentially (i) could confer different substrate
recognition capacity onto the two PTPs and (ii) might be used for the
design of selective inhibitors for each of the enzymes. One of these
areas is defined by the following residues and is found at the distal
part of a region that we have termed the 258/259' gateway (24) (TC-PTP
residues are in italics, and PTP1B residues are in bold):
His-34/Cys-32, Glu-41/Lys-39, and
Tyr-54/Phe-52, which seem to be directly
accessible from the active site pocket. The other area of difference is
a cluster of three residues, Gln-19/Ala-17, Leu-23/Gln-21, and
Pro-262/Ala-264, which are directly accessible
when the WPD loop is in the open conformation and with access
over the aromatic Phe-183/Phe-182 when in a
closed conformation.

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[in a new window]
Fig. 6.
Grasp rendering of the PTP1B and
TC-PTP surfaces. The two surface areas with structural differences
useful for potential selectivity design are indicated by
white and yellow circles, respectively. The
surface electrostatic potentials are colored in blue for
positive charges and in red for negative charges.

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[in a new window]
Fig. 7.
The Lys-122 loop. Grasp illustration of
the position of the 116-123 loop (the Lys-122 loop) in relation to the
inhibiting crystal packing loops (residues 129-135 and 145-150),
displayed as sticks on the surface. The color rendering is as described
for Fig 6.
![]()
DISCUSSION
TOP
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
REFERENCES
Space groups of PTP1B representing six different crystal packings
Previously, protein x-ray crystallography has provided evidence that
the activity of the receptor-like PTP
might be negatively regulated
by homodimerization (44). When the membrane-proximal domain of PTP
(apo structure) was crystallized, a symmetric dimer was formed in which
a so-called wedge from one molecule was inserted into and thereby
blocked the active site of the other molecule and vice
versa. The sequences of the wedge region are conserved in
receptor-like PTPs, thus suggesting a common, general regulatory mechanism for receptor PTPs involving the described homodimerization (44-46) and perhaps also heterodimerization (47). It remains to be
demonstrated how such dimerization processes are to be regulated in vivo. But intriguingly, it was recently demonstrated that
an inactivating point mutation in the putative wedge of CD45, a
receptor-like PTP that is required for positive signaling in T cells,
leads to lymphoproliferation and autoimmunity in transgenic mice (48). Although no structural information has yet been reported for CD45, this
suggests that homodimerization could play a critical role in
controlling the activity of this important PTP and perhaps other PTPs.
At present, we do not know if the above autoinhibition of TC-PTP is biologically relevant similar to that observed for receptor-like PTPs. Our enzyme kinetic evaluation with isolated PTP domains does not indicate this to be the case. Also, in contrast to the homodimerization of receptor-like PTPs, we observe multimerization. However, it is interesting that previous studies show that the C-terminal part of TC-PTP has a negative influence on enzyme activity. Thus, in the early studies by Zander and co-workers (49), it was found that removal of the hydrophobic C terminus of TC-PTP resulted in a 30-fold increase in activity (49). In addition, limited proteolysis of TC-PTP released a highly active 33-kDa fragment, which again could be inhibited by the addition of the non-catalytic C-terminal segment of the 45-kDa TC-PTP (50). This indicates that the autoinhibition is caused by intramolecular interactions, whereas our observations are consistent with intermolecular interactions. Could it be that our x-ray structure fortuitously reflects a novel in vivo autoinhibitory mechanism?
It is of interest that Shoelson and coworkers (51) recently have demonstrated autoinhibition of SHP-2 by a mechanism that resembles that presently described for TC-PTP by the insertion of the DDQ loop into the active site. These authors demonstrated that the N-terminal SH2 domain directly blocked the enzyme active site by insertion of the so-called D'E loop deeply into the catalytic cleft. Of note, the side chains of Asp-61 (from the SH2 domain) and Cys-459 of the PTP active site are hydrogen-bonded through a conserved water molecule, and a network of hydrogen bonds involving a number of residues stabilizes the interaction of the D'E loop with the enzyme active site. Although the specific binding pattern is different in TC-PTP, it is noteworthy that an Asp also plays a significant and central role for binding in this case.
Our previous studies have demonstrated that it is possible to use structure-based design to develop highly selective inhibitors of PTP1B utilizing residue 48 (attraction-repulsion) and the 258-259 region (steric fit-steric hindrance). However, because these regions are almost identical in TC-PTP, it is likely that active site-directed inhibitors addressing these areas in PTP1B will inhibit TC-PTP with equal potency. In accordance with this, we have recently demonstrated that two pyran-based active site inhibitors showed similar potency against the two enzymes (24). These observations have been extended further in the present analysis, demonstrating that selectivity for either of these enzymes must be achieved by addressing other areas. It is of significant interest that despite the high sequence and structural identity of TC-PTP and PTP1B, we and others (34) have been able to identify areas close to the active site that are structurally different and which might be utilized in developing PTP1B- or TC-PTP-selective inhibitors in the future. We speculate that the intrinsic differences in substrate recognition discussed above may at least in part be attributed to these areas.
The overall purpose of the present study was to investigate if selective inhibitors could be expected to be developed against either of the two highly homologous PTPs, PTP1B or TC-PTP. In particular, we were interested in identifying areas close to the active site that show significant structural differences between these enzymes, thus potentially allowing optimization of active site-directed inhibitors into selective PTP1B inhibitors (versus TC-PTP) or TC-PTP inhibitors (versus PTP1B). Two areas of potential interest have been identified: (i) a region that we have termed the 258/259 gateway (24) (TC-PTP residues are in italics, and PTP1B residues are in bold), His-34/Cys-32, Glu-41/Lys-39, and Tyr-54/Phe-52, which seem to be directly accessible from the active site pocket, and (ii) a cluster of three residues, Gln-19/Ala-17, Leu-23/Gln-21, and Pro-262/Ala-264. Upon immediate inspection, these differences may be considered too minor to obtain selectivity. However, it should be noted that subtle differences in the ATP binding sites of kinases have previously been used successfully to develop selective inhibitors (52). Also, a recent structural comparison of the closely related insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor kinase and the insulin receptor kinase (>80% identity) led to the identification of similar minor differences that the authors hypothesized could be used for development of selective ATP-competitive inhibitors of each kinase (53). Furthermore, using a combination of detailed enzyme kinetics, mutational analyses, and x-ray protein crystallography, we have previously demonstrated that significant selectivity can be obtained by addressing one single residue with sequence difference in the PTP family (26). Finally, the present study also indicates that the Lys-222 loop may be addressed in an unexpected manner by disrupting the conserved salt bridge between Glu-117 and Arg-222.
Although it remains to be demonstrated if these areas indeed can be
used for structure-based design of selective PTP1B or TC-PTP
inhibitors, we hope that the x-ray structure provided will serve as
inspiration for future drug design efforts. Such selective inhibitors
could be invaluable tools in determining the exact biological roles of
these two highly conserved and closely related PTPs.
| |
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
|---|
The expert technical assistance of Kirsten M. Klausen is greatly appreciated. We want to thank the following colleagues for helpful discussions: James G. McCormack, Hanne B. Rasmussen, Ole H. Olsen, Thomas Kruse Hansen, Anders K. Petersen, and Jesper F. Lau.
| |
FOOTNOTES |
|---|
* The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. The article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
§ To whom correspondence should be addressed. To N. P. H. M.: Signal Transduction, Novo Nordisk, 6A1.086, Novo Alle, DK-2880 Bagsvaerd, Denmark. Tel.: 45-4442-2899; Fax: 45-4442-7484; E-mail: NPHM@novonordisk.com. To L. F. I.: Protein Structure, Novo Nordisk, 6B2.78, Novo Alle, DK-2880 Bagsvaerd, Denmark. Tel.: 45-4442-6120; Fax: 45-4442-7359; E-mail: lfiv@novonordisk.com.
Published, JBC Papers in Press, March 20, 2002, DOI 10.1074/jbc.M200567200
| |
ABBREVIATIONS |
|---|
The abbreviations used are: PTP, protein-tyrosine phosphatase; TC, T cell.
| |
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