The three PRL (phosphatases of regenerating liver) protein tyrosine phosphatases (PRL-1, -2 and -3) have been identified as key contributors to metastasis in several human cancers, yet the molecular basis of their pro-oncogenic property is unclear. Among the subfamily of PRL phosphatases, overexpression of PRL-2 in breast cancer cells has been shown to promote tumor growth by a mechanism that remains to be uncovered. Here we show that PRL-2 regulates intracellular magnesium levels by forming a functional heterodimer with the magnesium transporter CNNM3. We further reveal that CNNM3 is not a phosphorylated substrate of PRL-2, and that the interaction occurs through a loop unique to the CBS pair domains of CNNM3 that exists only in organisms having PRL orthologs. Supporting the role of PRL-2 in cellular magnesium transport is the observation that PRL-2 knockdown results in a substantial decrease of cellular magnesium influx. Furthermore, in PRL-2 knockout mice, serum magnesium levels were significantly elevated as compared with control animals, indicating a pivotal role for PRL-2 in regulating cellular magnesium homeostasis. Although the expression levels of CNNM3 remained unchanged after magnesium depletion of various cancer cell lines, the interaction between endogenous PRL-2 and CNNM3 was markedly increased. Importantly, xenograft tumor assays with CNNM3 and a mutant form that does not associate with PRL-2 confirm that CNNM3 is itself pro-oncogenic, and that the PRL-2/CNNM3 association is important for conferring transforming activities. This finding is further confirmed from data in human breast cancer tissues showing that CNNM3 levels correlate positively with both PRL-2 expression and the tumor proliferative index. In summary, we demonstrate that oncogenic PRL-2 controls tumor growth by modulating intracellular magnesium levels through binding with the CNNM3 magnesium transporter.

The PRL-1, PRL-2, and PRL-3 phosphatases are prenylated protein tyrosine phosphatases with oncogenic activity that are proposed to drive tumor metastasis. We found that PRL-2 mRNA is elevated in primary breast tumors relative to matched normal tissue, and also dramatically elevated in metastatic lymph nodes compared with primary tumors. PRL-2 knockdown in metastatic MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells decreased anchorageindependent growth and cell migration, suggesting that the malignant phenotype of these cells is mediated at least in part through PRL-2 signaling. In different mouse mammary tumor-derived cell lines overexpressing PRL-2, we confirmed its role in anchorage-independent growth and cell migration. Furthermore, injection of PRL-2-overexpressing cells into the mouse mammary fat pad promoted extracellular signal-regulated kinase

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