Shp2 SUMOylation promotes ERK activation and hepatocellular carcinoma development

Shp2, an ubiquitously expressed protein tyrosine phosphatase, is essential for regulation of Ras/ERK signaling pathway and tumorigenesis. Here we report that Shp2 is modified by SUMO1 at lysine residue 590 (K(590)) in its C-terminus, which is reduced by SUMO1-specific protease SENP1. Analysis of wild-type Shp2 and SUMOylation-defective Shp2(K590R) mutant reveals that SUMOylation of Shp2 promotes EGF-stimulated ERK signaling pathway and increases anchorage-independent cell growth and xenografted tumor growth of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines. Furthermore, we find that mutant Shp2(K590R) reduces its binding with the scaffolding protein Gab1, and consistent with this, knockdown of SENP1 increased the interaction between Shp2 and Gab1. More surprisingly, we show that human Shp2 (hShp2) and mouse Shp2 (mShp2) have differential effects on ERK activation as a result of different SUMOylation level, which is due to the event of K(590) at hShp2 substituted by R(594) at mShp2. In summary, our data demonstrate that SUMOylation of Shp2 promotes ERK activation via facilitating the formation of Shp2-Gab1 complex and thereby accelerates HCC cell and tumor growth, which presents a novel regulatory mechanism underlying Shp2 in regulation of HCC development.