In the past decade, significant progress has been made in understanding the role of protein tyrosine phosphatase as a positive regulator of tumor progression. In this scenario, our group was one of the first to report the involvement of the low molecular weight protein tyrosine phosphatase (LMWPTP or ACP1) in the process of resistance and migration of tumor cells. Later, we and others demonstrated a positive correlation between the amount of this enzyme in human tumors and the poor prognosis. With this information in mind, we asked if LMWPTP contribution to metastasis, would it have an action beyond the primary tumor site. We know that the amount of this enzyme in the tumor cell correlates positively with the ability of cancer cells to interact with platelets, an indication that this enzyme is also important for the survival of these cells in the bloodstream. Here, we discuss several molecular aspects that support the idea of LMWPTP as a signaling hub of cancer hallmarks. Chemical and genetic modulation of LMWPTP proved to shut down signaling pathways associated with cancer aggressiveness. Therefore, advances in the development of LMWPTP inhibitors have great applicability in human diseases such as cancer.

在过去的十年中，人们在了解蛋白酪氨酸磷酸酶作为肿瘤进展的正调节因子的作用方面取得了重大进展。在这种情况下，我们的团队是最早报道低分子量蛋白酪氨酸磷酸酶（LMWPTP或ACP1）参与肿瘤细胞抵抗和迁移过程的团队之一。后来，我们和其他人证明了人类肿瘤中这种酶的含量与不良预后之间呈正相关。考虑到这些信息，我们询问 LMWPTP 是否有助于转移，是否会在原发肿瘤部位以外发挥作用。我们知道，肿瘤细胞中这种酶的含量与癌细胞与血小板相互作用的能力呈正相关，这表明这种酶对于这些细胞在血液中的存活也很重要。在这里，我们讨论了支持 LMWPTP 作为癌症标志信号中枢这一想法的几个分子方面。 LMWPTP 的化学和基因调节被证明可以关闭与癌症侵袭性相关的信号通路。因此，LMWPTP抑制剂的开发进展对于癌症等人类疾病具有很大的适用性。