We are interested in elucidating mechanisms of regulation of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), a tumor suppressor, with the goal of novel therapeutics for cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease and understanding the role of the protein phosphatase methyltransferase, LCMT-1, in development. These studies are being pursued through in vitro and in vivo studies, including recently developed global and conditional knockout mice. Our lab first implicated PP2A in cancer and has been on the cutting edge of elucidating PP2A regulatory mechanisms, with the most recent focus on the role of the LCMT-1 methyltransferase in regulation of the PI3K-Akt-S6kinase pathway. Our studies of LCMT-1 have recently indicated that it is a master regulator of the PP2A subfamily of protein phosphatases, including PP2A, PP4, and PP6. Global LCMT-1 knockout facilitated our identification of critical roles for LCMT-1 in mouse development and our new conditional mouse is being used to address intrinsic vs extrinsic contributions.
