Involvement of protein tyrosine phosphatases in adipogenesis: New anti-obesity targets?

Abstract

Obesity is a worldwide epidemic as well as being a major riskfactor for diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and several types ofcancers. Obesity is mainly due to the overgrowth of adiposetissue arising from an imbalance between energy intake andenergy expenditure. Adipose tissue, primarily composed ofadipocytes, plays a key role in maintaining whole body energyhomeostasis. In view of the treatment of obesity andobesity-related diseases, it is critical to understand the detailedsignal transduction mechanisms of adipogenic differentiation.Adipogenic differentiation is tightly regulated by many keysignal cascades, including insulin signaling. These signalcascades generally transfer or amplify the signal by using serialtyrosine phosphorylations. Thus, protein tyrosine kinases andprotein tyrosine phosphatases are closely related to adipogenicdifferentiation. Compared to protein tyrosine kinases, proteintyrosine phosphatases have received little attention inadipogenic differentiation. This review aims to highlight theinvolvement of protein tyrosine phosphatases in adipogenicdifferentiation and the possibility of protein tyrosinephosphatases as drugs to target obesity.

Keywords

• Adipocyte
• Adipogenesis
• Obesity
• Phosphorylation
• Protein tyrosine phosphatase