Additionally, the prenylated protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) are cell signaling molecules that play regulatory roles in a variety of cellular processes. Over-expression of PTPs in mammalian cells confers a transformed phenotype, which implicates its role in diseases. It has been reported that, in mice, Ptp4a1 expression was significantly regulated by ethanol in prefrontal cortex [27]; and transcript expression of Ptp4a1 (p = 3.2×10−11) was significantly associated with alcohol consumption [28]. These findings supported PHF3 and PTP4A1 as reasonable candidates for alcohol dependence, although the biological mechanisms warrant more studies in the future.
