ANNEXIN A2 FACILITATES NEOVASCULARIZATION TO PROTECT AGAINST MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION INJURY VIA INTERACTING WITH MACROPHAGE YAP AND ENDOTHELIAL INTEGRIN Β3.

ABSTRACT: Cardiac macrophages with different polarization phenotypes regulate ventricular remodeling and neovascularization after myocardial infarction (MI). Annexin A2 (ANXA2) promotes macrophage polarization to the repair phenotype and regulates neovascularization. However, whether ANXA2 plays any role in post-MI remodeling and its underlying mechanism remains obscure. In this study, we observed that expression levels of ANXA2 were dynamically altered in mouse hearts upon MI and peaked on the second day post-MI. Using adeno-associated virus vector-mediated overexpression or silencing of ANXA2 in the heart, we also found that elevation of ANXA2 in the infarcted myocardium significantly improved cardiac function, reduced cardiac fibrosis, and promoted peri-infarct angiogenesis, compared with controls. By contrast, reduction of cardiac ANXA2 exhibited opposite effects. Furthermore, using in vitro coculture system, we found that ANXA2-engineered macrophages promoted cardiac microvascular endothelial cell (CMEC) proliferation, migration, and neovascularization. Mechanistically, we identified that ANXA2 interacted with yes-associated protein (YAP) in macrophages and skewed them toward pro-angiogenic phenotype by inhibiting YAP activity. In addition, ANXA2 directly interacted with integrin ß3 in CMECs and enhanced their growth, migration, and tubule formation. Our results indicate that increased expression of ANXA2 could confer protection against MI-induced injury by promoting neovascularization in the infarcted area, partly through the inhibition of YAP in macrophages and activation of integrin ß3 in endothelial cells. Our study provides new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of MI injury.