The biological function and the regulatory roles of wild-type p53-induced phosphatase 1 in immune system

Abstract

Wild-type p53-induced phosphatase 1 (WIP1) belongs to the protein phosphatase 2C (PP2C) family and is a mammalian serine/threonine specific protein phosphatase to dephosphorylate numerous signaling molecules. Mammalian WIP1 regulates a wide array of targeting molecules and plays key regulatory roles in many cell processes such as DNA damage and repair, cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and senescence. WIP1 promotes the formation and development of tumors as an oncogene and a negative regulator of p53. It is also involved in the regulation of aging, neurological diseases and immune diseases. Recent studies demonstrated the critical roles of WIP1 in the differentiation and function of immune cells including T cells, neutrophils and macrophages. In the present manuscript, we briefly summarized the expression patterns, biological function and the target molecules and signal pathways of WIP1 and mainly discussed the latest advances on the regulatory effects of WIP1 in the immune system. WIP1 may be a potential target molecule to treat cancers and immune diseases such as allergic asthma.

Keywords:

• Gene expression
• immunity
• neutrophils
• signaling pathways
• Th9 cells
• WIP1

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Drs. Peng Wang and Zhanfeng Liang for their critical reading the manuscript.

Declaration of Interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Authors’ contribution

Lu Shi drafted the manuscript. Qianchuan Tian made revision and gave suggestions during the preparation. Chang Feng, and Peng Zhang revised the manuscript. Yong Zhao gave supervision and made critical revisions. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFA0104401, L.S.; 2017YFA0105002, 2017YFA0104402, Y.Z.), the National Natural Science Foundation Youth Fund (31800741, L.S.; C81530049, U1738111, C31470860, Y.Z.) and Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA16030301, Y.Z.), the Chinese Government 13th Five-Year Plan (2017ZX10201101), and the China Manned Space Flight Technology Project (Y.Z.).