Several protein-tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) have been proposed to act as negative regulators of insulin signaling. Recent studies have shown increased insulin sensitivity and resistance to obesity in PTP1B knockout mice, thus pointing to this enzyme as a potential drug target in diabetes. Structure-based design, guided by PTP mutants and x-ray protein crystallography, was used to optimize a relatively weak, nonphosphorus, nonpeptide general PTP inhibitor (2-(oxalyl-amino)-benzoic acid) into a highly selective PTP1B inhibitor. This was achieved by addressing residue 48 as a selectivity determining residue. By introducing a basic nitrogen in the core structure of the inhibitor, a salt bridge was formed to Asp-48 in PTP1B. In contrast, the basic nitrogen causes repulsion in other PTPs containing an asparagine in the equivalent position resulting in a remarkable selectivity for PTP1B. Importantly, this was accomplished while retaining the molecular weight of the inhibitor below 300 g/mol.

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 experiment...

Synthesis and structure-activity relationships of tricyclic alpha-ethoxy-phenylpropionic acid derivatives guided by in vitro PPARalpha and PPARgamma transactivation data and computer modeling led to the identification of the novel carbazole analogue, 3q, with dual PPARalpha (EC(50) = 0.36 microM) and PPARgamma (EC(50) = 0.17 microM) activity in vitro. Ten days treatment of db/db mice with 3q improved the insulin sensitivity, as measured by OGTT, better than that seen with both pioglitazone and rosiglitazone treatment, suggesting in vivo PPARgamma activity. Likewise, 3q lowered plasma triglycerides and cholesterol in high cholesterol fed rats after 4 days treatment, indicating in vivo PPARalpha activity. Investigations of the pharmacokinetics of selected compounds suggested that extended drug exposure improved the in vivo activity of in vitro active compounds.

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