Scientific background: |
SDC2 (Syndecan-2) also known as SYND2, HSPG1, HSPG, and Fibroglycan, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SDC2 gene. The protein encoded by this gene is a transmembrane (type I) heparan sulfate proteoglycan and is a member of the syndecan proteoglycan family. By Southern hybridization to a panel of human-mouse somatic cell hybrid DNA and by in situ hybridization, Marynen et al. (1989) showed that the heparan sulfate proteoglycan core protein maps to 8q22-q24. (Heparan sulfate proteoglycan of basement membrane appears to be encoded by a gene on human chromosome 1.Bobardt et al. (2003) demonstrated that syndecans, including SDC2, can function as in trans HIV receptors via binding of HIV-1 gp120 to the syndecan heparan sulfate chains. Flow cytometric analysis demonstrated SDC expression on endothelial cells. HIV bound to SDC on endothelial cell lines maintained its infectivity for at least 1 week, compared with less than 1 day for unbound virus. Bobardt et al. (2003) suggested that SDC-rich endothelial cells lining the vasculature can provide a microenvironment that boosts HIV replication in T cells. |
References: |
1. Bobardt, M. D., Saphire, A. C. S., Hung, H.-C., Yu, X., Van der Schueren, B., Zhang, Z., David, G., Gallay, P. A.Syndecan captures, protects, and transmits HIV to T lymphocytes.Immunity 18: 27-39, 2003.
2. David, G., van der Schueren, B., Marynen, P., Cassiman, J.-J., van den Berghe, H.Molecular cloning of amphiglycan, a novel integral membrane heparan sulfate proteoglycan expressed by epithelial and fibroblastic cells.J. Cell Biol. 118: 961-969, 1992.
3. Marynen, P., Zhang, J., Cassiman, J.-J., Van den Berghe, H., David, G.Partial primary structure of the 48- and 90-kilodalton core proteins of cell surface-associated heparan sulfate proteoglycans of lung fibroblasts: prediction of an integral membrane domain and evidence for multiple distinct core proteins at the cell surface of human lung fibroblasts.J. Biol. Chem. 264: 7017-7024, 1989.
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