Loss-of-Function Missense Mutations in Tyrosine Phosphatase PTPN6 Deregulate STAT3 Signaling in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common type of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and is characterized by deregulation of several signal transduction pathways. Approximately 50% patients with DLBCL are shown to have aberrant activation of the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) pathway. However, mechanism of aberrant STAT3 signaling in DLBCL is not well understood. Protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) are important enzymes that control the activity of multiple signaling pathways downstream of tyrosine kinases; mutations in PTPN11 have been found associated with the development of myeloproliferative disorder.

In the current study, we sequenced a set of 38 DLBCL tumor samples for genetic mutations of PTPN6. Bi-directional sequencing reactions were performed on genomic DNA, and all exons of PTPN6 were amplified and analyzed by Sanger sequencing. We identified 2 novel heterozygous missense mutations in PTPN6 gene in 2 separate patients (2/38; 5.2%). The first missense mutation occurred in the exon 7, resulted in an Asp226 to lysine substitution (N226K), while other missense mutation found on exon 15 resulted in an Ala552 to valine substitution (A552V). In order to elucidate the functional significance of these mutations, we performed site directed mutagenesis to mutate wild type (WT) PTPN6 at codon 226 and 552. Both, wild-type PTPN6 (PTPN6^WT) or those containing the N226K (PTPN6^N226K) and A552V (PTPN6^A552V) mutations were cloned and stably expressed in the HEK-293T cells with a lentiviral expression vector and PTPN6 phosphatase activity was measured. Our results showed marked reduction (70%) in the PTPN6 phosphatase activity in both the PTPN6 mutants as compared to the WT control. Interestingly both the PTPN6 mutants (PTPN6^N226K and PTPN6^A552V) promoted cell proliferation of HEK-293 cells as compared to WT PTPN6. In order to evaluate that whether or not PTPN6 mutations modulate STATs signaling, we analyzed STAT1, STAT3, STAT5 and STAT6 phosphorylation at tyrosine residue in cells stably transfected with WT or mutant PTPN6. While overexpression of WT PTPN6 reduced STAT3 phosphorylation, however no effect was observed on STAT1, STAT5 and STAT6 phosphorylation. Unlike WT-PTPN6, none of the PTPN6 mutants was able to dephosphorylate STAT3. In addition, PTPN6 A552V mutation was found to decrease the ability of PTPN6 to dephosphorylate STAT3 after induction with interleukin-10. Furthermore JAK2/JAK1 inhibition through the pharmacological inhibitor ruxolitinib (5μM) dephosphorylated STAT3 in WT PTPN6 as well as in PTPN6 mutants within 4 hours. Inhibition of JAK3 through a pharmacological inhibitor WHI-P154 (5μM) was able to completely dephosphorylated STAT3, however both the PTPN6 mutants were found resistant to JAK3 inhibition. Moreover, in a luciferase reporter assay compared to WT PTPN6, expressing either of the PTPN6 mutants (N226K and A552V) enhanced transcriptional activity of STAT3. To determine the effect of the PTPN6 mutations on the downstream targets of the JAK/STAT pathway, we demonstrated that Mcl-1, survivin and Bcl-2 protein level was significantly elevated in both mutant cells than that seen in the WT PTPN6 cells.

Overall these results demonstrate that the N226K and A552V PTPN6 mutations occur in 5% of DLBCL tumors. Mutations we have found are both able to cause loss-of-function of PTPN6 that leads to increased STAT3 phosphorylation and increased transcriptional activity resulting in accumulation of Mcl-1, Bcl-2 and survivin proteins. Our data suggest that clinical trials of JAK1/JAK2 inhibitors need not be restricted to tumors with PTPN6 mutations but rather should focus on tumors with demonstrated aberrant STAT3 activation. Taken together, our data suggest that PTPN6 mutations may guide the clinical use of inhibitors of JAK3 kinase in DLBCL.