Prl2 Phosphatase Regulate Early Stage T-Cell Development Through Fine-Tuning Scf/Kit Signaling

The phosphatase of regenerating liver (PRL) family of phosphatases, consisting of PRL1, PRL2, and PRL3, represents an intriguing group of proteins being validated as biomarkers and therapeutic targets in human cancer. We have been investigating the role of PRL2 in normal / malignant hematopoiesis and found that PRL2 is important for HSC self-renewal (Kobayashi et al., Stem Cells, 2014). The receptor tyrosine kinase KIT can balance quiescence for HSC maintenance and proliferation for progeny supply. The defects seen in the PRL2-deficient hematopoietic and testis cells recapitulate the phenotype of c-Kit mutant mice, suggesting that the SCF/KIT signaling may be impaired in the absence of PRL2 (Kobayashi et al., Stem Cells, 2014; Dong et al., JBC, 2013). Given that KIT also plays critical role in maintaining postnatal T-lymphopoiesis in thymus, we hypothesized that PRL2 is important for T cell development.