Interleukin-3 induces the association of the inositol 5-phosphatase SHIP with SHP2.

We recently purified and cloned a 145-kDa protein that becomes tyrosine phosphorylated and associated with Shc in response to multiple cytokines. Based on its predicated amino acid sequence and its enzymatic activity, we have called this protein SHIP, for Src homology 2-containing inositol phosphatase. To gain further insight into the intracellular pathways that this putative signal transduction intermediate might regulate we have investigated whether SHIP binds to intracellular proteins other than Shc. The results presented herein demonstrate that following interleukin-3 stimulation, SHIP binds to the tyrosine phosphatase, SHP2 (also called Syp, PTP1D, SHPTP2, and PTP2C) and that Shc is not present in these SHIP-SHP2 complexes. Time course studies reveal that SHIP's association with SHP2 is transient and is maximal at 10 min of stimulation with interleukin-3. We further show that the association of SHIP with SHP2 occurs through the direct interaction of the SH2 domain of SHIP with a pYXN(I/V) sequence within SHP2.