To elucidate the roles of SHP-2, we generated transgenic (Tg) mice expressing a dominant negative mutant lacking protein tyrosine phosphatase domain (⌬PTP). On examining two lines of Tg mice identified by Southern blot, the transgene product was expressed in skeletal muscle, liver, and adipose tissues, and insulin-induced association of insulin receptor substrate 1 with endogenous SHP-2 was inhibited, confirming that ⌬PTP has a dominant negative property. The intraperitoneal glucose loading test demonstrated an increase in blood glucose levels in Tg mice. Plasma insulin levels in Tg mice after 4 h fasting were 3 times greater with comparable blood glucose levels. To estimate insulin sensitivity by a constant glucose, insulin, and somatostatin infusion, steady state blood glucose levels were higher, suggesting the presence of insulin resistance. Furthermore, we observed the impairment of insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in muscle and adipocytes in the presence of physiological concentrations of insulin. Moreover, tyrosine phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate-1 and stimulation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and Akt kinase activities by insulin were attenuated in muscle and liver. These results indicate that the inhibition of endogenous SHP-2 function by the overexpression of a dominant negative mutant may lead to impaired insulin sensitivity of glucose metabolism, and thus SHP-2 may function to modulate insulin signaling in target tissues.
SHP-2 (also referred to as PTP1D, PTP2C, SHPTP2, or SYP)is a ubiquitously expressed protein-tyrosine phosphatase (PTPase) 1 containing a single PTPase domain and two adjacent Src homology (SH) 2 domains near its N terminus which specifically associate with a variety of tyrosine-phosphorylated proteins upon growth factor stimulation (1-5). SHP-2 is the mammalian homologue of Drosophila Corkscrew, whose gene product potentiates the Drosophila homologue of mammalian c-raf to positively transmit signals downstream of the Torso receptor tyrosine kinase (6). Furthermore, SHP-2 has been reported to play an important role in mesodermal induction in oocyte by regulation of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase activity (7).Regarding the roles of SHP-2 in tyrosine kinase signaling, several lines of evidence indicate that SHP-2 acts as a positive mediator in growth factor signaling such as that by plateletderived growth factor and epidermal growth factor (4,5,8,9). After stimulation by these ligands, SHP-2 is tyrosine-phosphorylated and bound to Grb2-SOS complex, resulting in activation of p21 ras and MAP kinase cascade. On the other hand, in the case of insulin signaling, SHP-2 is not tyrosine-phosphorylated in response to insulin stimulation. However, insulin induces the association of IRS-1 with SHP-2 (10, 11), and the expression of either a catalytically inactive mutant SHP-2 (Cys/Ser) or a deletion mutant lacking PTPase domain in Chinese hamster ovary cells overexpressing insulin receptors (CHO-IR) results in the attenuation of the insulin-stimulated MAP kinase activity, ...