%0 Journal Article %A Huang, Honglan %A Li, Yongmei %A Sadaoka, Tomohiko %A Tang, Huanmin %A Yamamoto, Takahito %A Yamanishi, Koichi %A Mori, Yasuko %T Human herpesvirus 6 envelope cholesterol is required for virus entry %D 2006 %J Journal of General Virology, %V 87 %N 2 %P 277-285 %@ 1465-2099 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.81551-0 %I Microbiology Society, %X In this study, the role of cholesterol in the envelope of human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) was examined by using methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MβCD) depletion. When cholesterol was removed from HHV-6 virions with MβCD, infectivity was abolished, but it could be rescued by the addition of exogenous cholesterol. HHV-6 binding was affected slightly by MβCD treatment. In contrast, envelope cholesterol depletion markedly affected HHV-6 infectivity and HHV-6-induced cell fusion. These results suggest that the cholesterol present in the HHV-6 envelope plays a prominent role in the fusion process and is a key component in viral entry. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.81551-0