%0 Journal Article %A Bacsa, Sarolta %A Karasneh, Ghadah %A Dosa, Sandor %A Liu, Jian %A Valyi-Nagy, Tibor %A Shukla, Deepak %T Syndecan-1 and syndecan-2 play key roles in herpes simplex virus type-1 infection %D 2011 %J Journal of General Virology, %V 92 %N 4 %P 733-743 %@ 1465-2099 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.027052-0 %I Microbiology Society, %X Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is an important human pathogen and a leading cause of infectious blindness in the developed world. HSV-1 exploits heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPG) for attachment to cells. While the significance of heparan sulphate (HS) moieties in HSV-1 infection is well established, the role of specific proteoglycan core proteins in the infection process remains poorly understood. The objective of this study was to assess the roles of syndecan-1 and syndecan-2 core proteins in HSV-1 infection, both of which are expressed by many HSV-1 target cell types. Our results demonstrate that syndecan-1 and syndecan-2 gene silencing by RNA interference reduces HSV-1 entry, plaque formation and facilitates cell survival. Furthermore, HSV-1 infection increases syndecan-1 and syndecan-2 protein synthesis and a resultant increase in cell surface expression of HS. Our observations suggest that changes in syndecan-1 and syndecan-2 expression levels may be related to active viral infection. Taken together, our findings provide new insights into HSPG functions during HSV-1 entry and spread. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.027052-0