During immune surveillance and inflammation, leukocytes exit the vasculature through transient openings in the endothelium without causing plasma leakage. However, the exact mechanisms behind this intriguing phenomenon are still unknown. Here we report that maintenance of endothelial barrier integrity during leukocyte diapedesis requires local endothelial RhoA cycling. Endothelial RhoA depletion in vitro or Rho inhibition in vivo provokes neutrophil-induced vascular leakage that manifests during the physical movement of neutrophils through the endothelial layer. Local RhoA activation initiates the formation of contractile F-actin structures that surround emigrating neutrophils. These structures that surround neutrophil-induced endothelial pores prevent plasma leakage through actomyosin-based pore confinement. Mechanistically, we found that the initiation of RhoA activity involves ICAM-1 and the Rho GEFs Ect2 and LARG. In addition, regulation of actomyosin-based endothelial pore confinement involves ROCK2b, but not ROCK1. Thus, endothelial cells assemble RhoA-controlled contractile F-actin structures around endothelial pores that prevent vascular leakage during leukocyte extravasation.

ICAM-1 is required for firm adhesion of leukocytes to the endothelium. However, how the spatial organization of endothelial ICAM-1 regulates leukocyte adhesion is not well understood. In this study, we identified the calcium-effector protein annexin A2 as a novel binding partner for ICAM-1. ICAM-1 clustering promotes the ICAM-1–annexin A2 interaction and induces translocation of ICAM-1 into caveolin-1–rich membrane domains. Depletion of endothelial annexin A2 using RNA interference enhances ICAM-1 membrane mobility and prevents the translocation of ICAM-1 into caveolin-1–rich membrane domains. Surprisingly, this results in increased neutrophil adhesion and transendothelial migration under flow conditions and reduced crawling time, velocity, and lateral migration distance of neutrophils on the endothelium. In conclusion, our data show that annexin A2 limits neutrophil transendothelial migration by organizing the spatial distribution of ICAM-1.