Syndecan-2 is a transmembrane (type I) heparan sulfate proteoglycan and is a member of the syndecan proteoglycan family. The syndecans mediate cell binding, cell signaling, and cytoskeletal organization and syndecan receptors are required for internalization of the HIV-1 tat protein.

The syndecan-2 protein functions as an integral membrane protein and participates in cell proliferation, cell migration and cell-matrix interactions via its receptor for extracellular matrix proteins. Altered syndecan-2 expression has been detected in several different tumor types.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.