SHP2 positively regulates TGFβ1-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition modulated by its novel interacting protein Hook1.

The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is an essential process for embryogenesis. It also plays a critical role in the initiation of tumor metastasis. Src homology 2 (SH2)-domain containing protein-tyrosine phosphatase-2 (SHP2) is a ubiquitously expressed protein-tyrosine phosphatase and is mutated in many tumors. However, its functional role in tumor metastasis remains largely unknown. We found that TGFβ1-induced EMT in lung epithelial A549 cells was partially blocked when SHP2 was decreased by transfected siRNA. The constitutively active form (E76V) promoted EMT while the phosphatase-dead mutation (C459S) and the SHP2 inhibitor PHPS1 blocked EMT, which further demonstrated that the phosphatase activity of SHP2 was required for promoting TGFβ1-induced EMT. Using the protein-tyrosine phosphatase domain of SHP2 as bait, we identified a novel SHP2-interacting protein Hook1. Hook1 was down-regulated during EMT in A549 cells. Overexpression of Hook1 inhibited EMT while knockdown of Hook1 promoted EMT. Moreover, both the protein-tyrosine phosphatase domain and N-terminal SH2 domain of SHP2 directly interacted with Hook1. Down-regulation of Hook1 increased SHP2 activity. These results suggested that Hook1 was an endogenous negative regulator of SHP2 phosphatase activity. Our data showed that the protein-tyrosine phosphatase SHP2 was involved in the process of EMT and Hook1 repressed EMT by regulating the activation of SHP2. SHP2-Hook1 complex may play important roles in tumor metastases by regulating EMT in cancer cells.