In this issue of Journal of Biomedical Research, 3 review articles are published that cover a broad range of topics addressing current understanding on regulation of nutrient metabolism through protein phosphatases, homeostatic regulation of cellular lipid droplets by small GTPases, and mechanisms by which hepatic assembly and secretion of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins are regulated. Protein p...

Protein kinases are an important class of substrate of the protein phosphatases. We have examined the mechanism of dephosphorylation of the activation segments of the insulin receptor kinase and cyclin-dependent kinase 2 by their respective phosphatases, namely the tyrosine specific phosphatase PTP1B and the dual specificity phosphatase KAP. These studies reveal that PTP1B and KAP utilize contr...

Obesity is a worldwide epidemic as well as being a major risk factor for diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and several types of cancers. Obesity is mainly due to the overgrowth of adipose tissue arising from an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. Adipose tissue, primarily composed of adipocytes, plays a key role in maintaining whole body energy homeostasis. In view of the tr...

Type 2 diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate worldwide, and there has been a considerable effort in several laboratories to identify suitable targets for the design of drugs against the disease. To this end, the protein tyrosine phosphatases that attenuate insulin signaling by dephosphorylating the insulin receptor (IR) have been actively pursued. This is because inhibiting the phosphatase...