Fig 1: Repression of STC1 and FLT4 in primary human dermal lymphatic endothelial cells. A Cells were transfected with siRNA non-targeting control (siNTC) or siRNAs targeting STC1 (siSTC1). One day post-transfection, cells were infected with KSHV strain BAC16 (contains a GFP reporter). The percentage of GFP-positive cells was determined by flow cytometry (left). DNA harvested by cells was used in qPCR assays to measure viral genomes per cell at 1 day post-infection. B New viral particles were measured from conditioned media from cells infected and transfected. Samples were collected 5 days after infection. Each line represents a separate biological replicate. C RNA was purified from cells after transfection and infection and KSHV transcript levels were compared between siSTC1-transfected cells and siNTC cells. D Endothelial cells were transfected with siRNAs, infected (MOI = 0.25), then seeded on basement membrane extract at 2 dpi, and imaged by brightfield microscopy at 3 dpi. Tubule formation (Nodes, Junctions, Meshes, Segments) was assessed by image analysis software. Paired t-test was performed for statistical significance (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001)