Health · Medical Research · 6 hrs ago
Study identifies enzyme that helps leukemia cells preserve growth protein
Researchers found that PTPN2 helps leukemia cells keep c-MYC from breaking down.
The work focused on acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a blood cancer in which immature blood-forming cells build up in bone marrow and crowd out healthy cells.
In lab tests, reducing PTPN2 slowed leukemia cell growth and increased programmed cell death.
The experimental compound WS35 lowered c-MYC and slowed tumor growth in mice implanted with human leukemia cells.
This matters because AML treatment options include chemotherapy and targeted medicines, but drug resistance and treatment-related side effects remain challenges.
WS35 also affects a related enzyme, PTP1B, so researchers cannot yet attribute all its effects specifically to blocking PTPN2.
Further preclinical studies are needed to test the approach in models that better reflect how AML develops in bone marrow and to develop more selective inhibitors.
Researchers identified PTPN2 as an enzyme that helps acute myeloid leukemia cells preserve c-MYC, a protein that drives cell growth.
PTPN2 removes a phosphate group from c-MYC at threonine 58, a site involved in marking the protein for breakdown.
Reducing PTPN2 in laboratory experiments slowed leukemia cell growth and increased programmed cell death.
The experimental inhibitor WS35 slowed the growth of human leukemia cell implants in mice.
The findings are preclinical, and WS35 also inhibits the related enzyme PTP1B.
- Who
- Peng Yang's research team at China Pharmaceutical University.
- What
- The team reported that PTPN2 stabilizes c-MYC in leukemia cells and that disrupting the process curbs their growth in preclinical models.
- When
- The study was published on 16 October 2026.
- Where
- The research was published in Targetome; experiments included leukemia cells and mice implanted with NB4 cells.
- Why
- To investigate whether AML cells depend on PTPN2 for growth and how the enzyme may support that growth.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Analyses had indicated that the gene encoding PTPN2 was more active in AML samples.
The study by Peng Yang's team was published in Targetome.
Researchers tested WS35 in leukemia cell lines and in mice implanted with NB4 cells.
- Enzyme
- Protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 2 (PTPN2)
- Growth protein
- c-MYC
- Phosphorylation site
- Threonine 58
- Experimental inhibitor
- WS35
- Cell lines
- MOLM13 and NB4
- Journal
- Targetome