Vinexin-β deficiency protects against cerebral ischaemia/reperfusion injury by inhibiting neuronal apoptosis.

Vinexin-β is an adaptor protein that regulates cell adhesion, cytoskeletal organization and signal transduction. Our previous work showed that Vinexin-β protects against cardiac hypertrophy. However, its function in stroke is largely unknown. In the present study, we observed a significant increase in Vinexin-β expression in both human intracerebral haemorrhage and mouse cerebral ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury model, indicating that Vinexin-β is involved in stroke. Next, using Vinexin-β knockout mice, we further demonstrated that Vinexin-β deficiency significantly protected against cerebral I/R injury, as demonstrated by a dramatic decrease in the infarct volume and an improvement in neurological function. Additionally, immunofluorescence and western blotting showed that the deletion of Vinexin-β attenuated neuronal apoptosis. Mechanically, we found that Akt signalling was up-regulated in the brains of the Vinexin-β knockout mice compared with those of the WT control mice after ischaemic injury. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the deletion of Vinexin-β potently protects against ischaemic injury by inhibiting neuronal apoptosis, and this effect may occur via the up-regulation of Akt signalling. Our findings revealed that Vinexin-β acts as a novel modulator of ischaemic injury, suggesting that Vinexin-β may represent an attractive therapeutic target for the prevention of stroke.