We recently found a novel cell-cell adhesion system at cadherin-based adherens junctions (AJs), consisting at least of nectin, a Ca 2؉ -independent homophilic immunoglobulin-like adhesion molecule, and afadin, an actin filament-binding protein that connects nectin to the actin cytoskeleton. Nectin is associated with cadherin through afadin and ␣-catenin. The cadherin-catenin system increases the concentration of nectin at AJs in an afadin-dependent manner. Nectin constitutes a family consisting of three members: nectin-1, -2, and -3. Nectin-1 serves as an entry and cell-cell spread mediator of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1). We studied here a role of the interaction of nectin-1␣ with afadin in entry and/or cell-cell spread of HSV-1. By the use of cadherin-deficient L cells overexpressing the full length of nectin-1␣ capable of interacting with afadin and L cells overexpressing a truncated form of nectin-1␣ incapable of interacting with afadin, we found that the interaction of nectin-1␣ with afadin increased the efficiency of cell-cell spread, but not entry, of HSV-1. This interaction did not affect the binding to nectin-1␣ of glycoprotein D, a viral component mediating entry of HSV-1 into host cells. Furthermore, the cadherin-catenin system increased the efficiency of cell-cell spread of HSV-1, although it also increased the efficiency of entry of HSV-1. It is likely that efficient cell-cell spread of HSV-1 is caused by afadin-dependent concentrated localization of nectin-1␣ at cadherin-based AJs.Herpes simplex viruses (HSVs) are members of the neurotropic subfamily (alphaherpesviruses) of the herpesvirus family. Infection with HSV type 1 (HSV-1) is prevalent. HSV-1 infects cells through initial attachment to the plasma membrane and subsequent fusion of the viral envelope with the plasma membrane or through contiguous cell-cell spread. The entry pathway of HSV-1 is divided into three major processes: binding, fusion, and capsid penetration. These processes require several viral envelope glycoproteins (49-51). The initial attachment is mediated through glycoprotein C (gC) and/or gB to cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans (17,18,45), but this attachment is not sufficient for virus penetration (3,11,22,27). The fusion of the viral envelope with the plasma membrane requires gD, gB, gH, and gL (49-51). These four viral glycoproteins also participate in cell-cell spread (3,11,20,28,36,40). Cell-cell spread furthermore requires gE and gI (1, 8-10), but these glycoproteins are not required for entry (8). Thus, entry and cell-cell spread of HSV-1 share similar processes, but these pathways also differ in some significant aspects.Recently, expression cloning has led to the identification and isolation of HSV entry mediators (5,12,33,46,51). The human receptors identified include a lymphotoxin receptor (31), designated HVEM (33, 65) or HSV entry mediator A (HveA), which belongs to the tumor necrosis factor receptor family; two members of the immunoglobulin (Ig) superfamily (5,12,48,62); and 3-O-sulfated heparan ...