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

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

Since MAPKs are activated by phosphorylation, dephosphorylation of MAPKs seems to be an efficient process to inactivate their activities. It can be achieved by specific protein kinase phosphatases which can remove the phosphate group from MAPKs. Examples of these phosphatases include tyrosine phosphatases, serine/threonine phosphatases, and dual-specificity phosphatases (DUSPs). Some DUSPs are also known as MAPK phosphatases (MKPs) [6] [7] [8] . Currently, there are at least 10 MKPs identified, while MKP-1 is the most studied member of the family. The regulatory role of MKP-1 on cytokine induction is best demonstrated by MKP-1 knockout (KO) macrophages in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a cell wall component of Gram-negative bacteria. MKP-1 KO macrophages showed prolonged phosphorylation of p38 MAPK and JNK as well as increased production of TNF-α in response to LPS treatment [9] . Consistent with these results, another group further revealed that LPS-treated MKP-1 KO bone marrow-derived macrophages show increased AP-1 DNA-binding activity [10] . Also, they showed that LPS-induced MKP-1 expression is dependent on myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88) and TIR domain-containing adaptor inducing IFN-β (TRIF) [10] , thus demonstrating the role of MKP-1 in signal transduction.