A novel anti-mycobacterial function of mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase-1

Cheung, Benny KW; Yim, Howard CH; Lee, Norris CM; Lau, Allan SY

In the past, it was believed that different MKP/DUSP family members have overlapping functions. However, the emergence of DUSP2 turned the concept up side down [13] . It was shown that DUSP2 behaves differently and is opposite to the function as stated above. In DUSP2 KO cells, they produced less inflammatory mediators, implying that DUSP2 may play a role in mediating instead of limiting inflammation. For instances, when DUSP2 KO macrophages were treated with LPS, there were less TNF, IL-6, nitric oxide, IL-12-producing cells when compared to those of the wild type counterparts [13] . When the DUSP2 KO bone marrow-derived mast cells were first sensitized with immunoglobulin E (IgE) receptor (FcεRI) and then stimulated with dinitrophenol-heat stable antigen, they produced lower TNF mRNA levels, diminished IL-6 production, less phosphorylation of ERK1/2, p38 MAPK, and less transcriptional activities by Elk1 and NFAT-AP-1 [13] .