Endothelial S1pr2 regulates post-ischemic angiogenesis via AKT/eNOS signaling pathway

• Published in: Theranostics Vol. 12; no. 11; pp. 5172 - 5188
• Main Authors: Zhou, Caixia, Kuang, Yashu, Li, Qinyu, Duan, Yunhao, Liu, Xiuxiang, Yue, Jinnan, Chen, Xiaoli, Liu, Jie, Zhang, Yuzhen, Zhang, Lin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Australia Ivyspring International Publisher Pty Ltd 01.01.2022; Ivyspring International Publisher
• Subjects: Angiogenesis; Animals; Antibodies; Cell culture; Cell growth; Disease Models, Animal; Endothelial Cells - metabolism; Experiments; Gangrene; Hindlimb - blood supply; Ischemia; Laboratory animals; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Muscle, Skeletal - metabolism; Neovascularization, Physiologic; Older people; Peripheral Arterial Disease; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt - metabolism; Regional Blood Flow; Research Paper; Signal Transduction; Smooth muscle; Veins & arteries; Wound healing; Angiogenesis; Hindlimb ischemia; Endothelial cells; Sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor 2
• ISSN: 1838-7640; 1838-7640
• DOI: 10.7150/thno.71585

It is important to understand the mechanism that regulates post-ischemic angiogenesis and to explore a new therapeutic target for an effective improvement of revascularization in peripheral artery disease (PAD) patients. Post-ischemic angiogenesis is a highly orchestrated process, which involves vascular endothelial cells (ECs) proliferation, migration and assembly into capillaries. We found a significant reduction of S1pr2 (sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor 2) in endothelial cells after hindlimb ischemia (HLI). We thus hypothesized that EC-S1pr2 might be involved in the regulation of post-ischemic angiogenesis and blood flow recovery during peripheral arterial disease (PAD). We generated both EC-specific S1pr2 loss-of-function and S1pr2 gain-of-function mice. Our study showed that EC-specific S1pr2 loss-of-function significantly enhanced post-ischemic angiogenesis and improved blood flow recovery upon femoral artery ligation, whereas the EC-specific S1pr2 gain-of-function severely hindered post-ischemic angiogenesis and reduced blood flow recovery in ischemic limbs. We next identified that S1pr2 inhibited AKT/eNOS signaling pathway, and thus inhibited EC proliferation/migration and angiogenic activity. As expected, pharmacological inhibition of S1pr2 by JTE013 improved post-ischemic angiogenesis and improved blood flow perfusion after femoral artery ligation. Moreover, we developed RGD-peptide magnetic nanoparticles packaging S1pr2-siRNA which specifically targeted ECs and achieved an efficient silencing of S1pr2 expression in ECs . This EC-targeted strategy to dampen S1pr2 significantly enhanced post-ischemic angiogenesis and boosted blood perfusion after HLI, supplying a novel therapy target for patients with peripheral arterial disease. This present study demonstrates that EC-expressing S1pr2 tightly controls post-ischemic angiogenesis and blood flow perfusion recovery. This research provides a novel strategy for EC-target knockdown of S1pr2 as a new therapeutic intervention for patients with peripheral artery disease.