The low molecular weight phosphotyrosine phosphatase (LMW-PTP), also known as Acid phosphatase 1 (ACP1), belongs to the low molecular weight phosphotyrosine protein phosphatase family are involved in the regulation of important physiological functions, including stress resistance and synthesis of the polysaccharide capsule. ACP1/LMW-PTP is an enzyme involved in platelet-derived growth factor-induced mitogenesis and cytoskeleton rearrangement. LMW-PTP is able to specifically bind and dephosphorylate activated PDGF receptor, thus modulating PDGF-induced mitogenesis. In vitro, LMW-PTP was found to efficiently dephosphorylate activated FcgammaRIIA and LAT, but not Syk or phospholipase Cgamma2. The overexpression of LMW-PTP inhibited activation of Syk downstream of FcgammaRIIA and reduced intracellular Ca(2+) mobilization. It been demonstrated that LMW-PTP is responsible for FcgammaRIIA dephosphorylation, and is implicated in the down-regulation of cell activation mediated by this ITAM-bearing immunoreceptor. In addition, ACP1 is a highly polymorphic phosphatase that is especially abundant in the central nervous system and is known to be involved in several signal transduction pathways.