Mitofusin-2 stabilizes adherens junctions and suppresses endothelial inflammation via modulation of β-catenin signaling

Nat Commun. 2021 May 12;12(1):2736. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-23047-6.

Abstract

Endothelial barrier integrity is ensured by the stability of the adherens junction (AJ) complexes comprised of vascular endothelial (VE)-cadherin as well as accessory proteins such as β-catenin and p120-catenin. Disruption of the endothelial barrier due to disassembly of AJs results in tissue edema and the influx of inflammatory cells. Using three-dimensional structured illumination microscopy, we observe that the mitochondrial protein Mitofusin-2 (Mfn2) co-localizes at the plasma membrane with VE-cadherin and β-catenin in endothelial cells during homeostasis. Upon inflammatory stimulation, Mfn2 is sulfenylated, the Mfn2/β-catenin complex disassociates from the AJs and Mfn2 accumulates in the nucleus where Mfn2 negatively regulates the transcriptional activity of β-catenin. Endothelial-specific deletion of Mfn2 results in inflammatory activation, indicating an anti-inflammatory role of Mfn2 in vivo. Our results suggest that Mfn2 acts in a non-canonical manner to suppress the inflammatory response by stabilizing cell-cell adherens junctions and by binding to the transcriptional activator β-catenin.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adherens Junctions / metabolism*
  • Animals
  • Antigens, CD / metabolism
  • Blotting, Western
  • Cadherins / metabolism
  • Cell Line
  • Cell Membrane / metabolism
  • Female
  • GTP Phosphohydrolases / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Immunoprecipitation
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Microscopy, Confocal
  • Mitochondrial Proteins / metabolism*
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Signal Transduction / physiology
  • beta Catenin / metabolism*

Substances

  • Antigens, CD
  • Cadherins
  • Mitochondrial Proteins
  • beta Catenin
  • cadherin 5
  • GTP Phosphohydrolases
  • MFN2 protein, human