The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling pathway is deregulated in many human diseases including cancer, diabetes, obesity, and autoimmunity. PI3K consists of a p110 catalytic protein and a p85α regulatory protein, required for the stabilization and localization of p110-PI3K activity. The p110-PI3K enzyme generates the key signaling lipid phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate, which is dephosphorylated by the PI3-phosphatase PTEN. Here we show another function for the p85α regulatory protein: it binds directly to and enhances PTEN lipid phosphatase activity. We demonstrate that ectopically expressed FLAG-tagged p85 coimmunoprecipitates endogenous PTEN in an epidermal growth factor dependent manner. We also show epidermal growth factor dependent coimmunoprecipitation of endogenous p85 and PTEN proteins in HeLa cells. Thus p85 regulates both p110-PI3K and PTEN-phosphatase enzymes through direct interaction. This finding underscores the need for caution in analyzing PI3K activity because anti-p85 immunoprecipitations may contain both p85:p110-PI3K and p85:PTEN-phosphatase enzymes and thus measure net PI3K activity. We identify the N-terminal SH3-BH region of p85α, absent in the smaller p55α and p50α isoforms, as the region that mediates PTEN binding and regulation. Cellular expression of p85ΔSH3-BH results in substantially increased magnitude and duration of pAkt levels in response to growth factor stimulation. The ability of p85 to bind and directly regulate both p110-PI3K and PTEN-PI3-phosphatase allows us to explain the paradoxical insulin signaling phenotypes observed in mice with reduced PI3K or PTEN proteins. This discovery will impact ongoing studies using therapeutics targeting the PI3K/PTEN/Akt pathway.

Rab5 and Rab4 are small monomeric GTPases localized on early endosomes and function in vesicle fusion events. These Rab proteins regulate the endocytosis and recycling or degradation of activated receptor tyrosine kinases such as the platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR). The p85␣ subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase contains a BH domain with sequence homology to GTPase activating proteins (GAPs), but has not previously been shown to possess GAP activity. In this report, we demonstrate that p85␣ has GAP activity toward Rab5, Rab4, Cdc42, Rac1 and to a lesser extent Rab6, with little GAP activity toward Rab11. Purified recombinant Rab5 and p85␣ can bind directly to each other and not surprisingly, the p85␣-encoded GAP activity is present in the BH domain. Because p85␣ stays bound to the PDGFR during receptor endocytosis, p85␣ will also be localized to the same early endosomal compartment as Rab5 and Rab4. Taken together, the physical co-localization and the ability of p85␣ to preferentially stimulate the down-regulation of Rab5 and Rab4 GTPases suggests that p85␣ regulates how long Rab5 and Rab4 remain in their GTP-bound active state. Cells expressing BH domain mutants of p85 show a reduced rate of PDGFR degradation as compared with wild type p85 expressing cells. These cells also show sustained activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase and Akt pathways. Thus, the p85␣ protein may play a role in the down-regulation of activated receptors through its temporal control of the GTPase cycles of Rab5 and Rab4.Down-regulation of signal transduction pathways activated by receptor tyrosine kinases, such as the PDGFR, 1 includes endocytosis of the activated receptor complex (1, 2). Receptormediated endocytosis involves multiple vesicle fusion events that effectively deliver the receptor-signaling complex to the early endosome. This complex is then disassembled and the receptor is either recycled back to the plasma membrane or sorted to the late endosome and lysosome for degradation (3, 4). Rab5 is a small monomeric GTPase involved in early endosomal fusion events such as the fusion of clathrin-coated vesicles (containing activated receptors undergoing endocytosis) with the early/sorting endosomes (reviewed in Refs. 5 and 6). GDP-bound Rab5 is inactive and bound to a guanine dissociation inhibitor (GDI) protein in the cytosol. GTP-bound Rab5 is active and localized on the cytoplasmic face of early/sorting endosomes where it is involved in binding specific effector proteins such as the early-endosomal autoantigen 1 (EEA1) (7,8). EEA1 is a cytosolic protein that is recruited to early endosomal membranes by binding to Rab5-GTP and the lipid product of the class III PI3K p150/hVPS34, phosphatidylinositol 3Ј-phosphate (7, 9, 10). EEA1 is a core component required for early endosomal fusion events (7,8,11,12). The half-life of phosphatidylinositol 3Ј-phosphate, and the duration of Rab5-GTP have been suggested to influence the rate and extent of the endosome fusion reaction (13). The low intrinsic GTPase act...

A new series of blood-brain barrier permeable molecules designed to mimic the activity of Pleiotrophin in the CNS has been designed and synthesized. These compounds exert their action by interacting with the intracellular domain PD1 of the Protein Tyrosine-Phosphatase Receptor Z1 (PTPRZ1), and inhibiting its tyrosine phosphatase activity. The most potent compounds 10a and 12b (IC = 0,1 μM) significantly increase the phosphorylation of key tyrosine residues of PTPRZ1 substrates involved in neuronal survival and differentiation, and display protective effects against amphetamine-induced toxicity. Docking and molecular dynamics experiments have been used to analyze the binding mode and to explain the observed selectivity against PTP1B. An In vivo experiment has demonstrated that 10a can cross the BBB, thus promoting the possibility of moving forward these candidates for the development of drugs for the treatment of CNS disorders, such as drug addiction and neurodegenerative diseases.

Pleiotrophin (PTN) and Midkine (MK) are neurotrophic factors that are upregulated in the prefrontal cortex after alcohol administration and have been shown to reduce ethanol drinking and reward. PTN and MK are the endogenous inhibitors of Receptor Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase (RPTP) β/ζ (a.k.a. PTPRZ1, RPTPβ, PTPζ), suggesting a potential role for this phosphatase in the regulation of alcohol effects. To determine if RPTPβ/ζ regulates ethanol consumption, we treated mice with recently developed small-molecule inhibitors of RPTPβ/ζ (MY10, MY33-3) before testing them for binge-like drinking using the drinking in the dark protocol. Mice treated with RPTPβ/ζ inhibitors, particularly with MY10, drank less ethanol than controls. MY10 treatment blocked ethanol conditioned place preference, showed limited effects on ethanol-induced ataxia, and potentiated the sedative effects of ethanol. We also tested whether RPTPβ/ζ is involved in ethanol signaling pathways. We found that ethanol treatment of neuroblastoma cells increased phosphorylation of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) and TrkA, known substrates of RPTPβ/ζ. Treatment of neuroblastoma cells with MY10 or MY33-3 also increased levels of phosphorylated ALK and TrkA. However, concomitant treatment of neuroblastoma cells with ethanol and MY10 or MY33-3 prevented the increase in pTrkA and pALK. These results demonstrate for the first time that ethanol engages TrkA signaling and that RPTPβ/ζ modulates signaling pathways activated by alcohol and behavioral responses to this drug. The data support the hypothesis that RPTPβ/ζ might be a novel target of pharmacotherapy for reducing excessive alcohol consumption.

Herein, we present a general electrochemical method to access unsymmetrical 3,3-disubstituted oxindoles by direct C–H functionalization where the oxindole fragment behaves as an electrophile. This Umpolung approach does not rely on stoichiometric oxidants and proceeds under mild, environmentally benign conditions. Importantly, it enables the functionalization of these scaffolds through C–O, and by extension to C–C or even C–N bond formation.