Autoantibodies Against the Fibrinolytic Receptor, Annexin 2, in Antiphospholipid Syndrome.

The association of thrombosis, obstetric morbidity, and hemocytopenias with antiphospholipid antibodies is termed antiphospholipid syndrome. Annexin 2 is a profibrinolytic endothelial cell surface receptor that binds plasminogen, its tissue activator (tPA), and beta-2-glycoprotein-I, the main antigen for antiphospholipid antibodies. Here we evaluate annexin 2 as a target antigen in antiphospholipid syndrome. Serum samples from 434 individuals (206 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus without thrombosis, 62 with antiphospholipid syndrome, 21 with non-autoimmune thrombosis, and 145 healthy individuals) were analyzed by ELISA and immunoblotting for antiphospholipid and annexin 2 antibodies. IgG was purified and the effect of anti-annexin 2 antibodies on human umbilical vein endothelial cell activation and cell surface plasmin generation were evaluated. Anti-annexin 2 antibodies (titer >3SD) were significantly more prevalent in patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (22.6%, venous 17.5%, arterial 34.3% and mixed thrombosis 40.4%), than in healthy individuals (2.1%, p<0.001), patients with non-autoimmune thrombosis (0%, p=0.017) or patients with lupus without thrombosis (6.3%, p<0.001). Anti-annexin 2 antibodies enhanced the expression of tissue factor, a procoagulant protein, on endothelial cells (6.4 fold ± 0.13 SE), and blocked the fibrinolytic cofactor activity of purified placental annexin 2 in a tissue plasminogen activator-dependent plasmin generation assay (19 – 71%), independently of beta-2-glycoprotein-I. Similarly, cell surface plasmin generation on human umbilical vein endothelial cells was inhibited by 34–83%. We conclude that antibodies against the fibrinolytic receptor annexin 2 are significantly associated with thrombosis in antiphospholipid syndrome, and that anti-annexin 2 antibodies activate endothelial cells and inhibit endothelial cell surface-localized plasmin generation. We propose that these mechanisms contribute to the prothrombotic tendency in antiphospholipid syndrome.