Features of Human Herpesvirus-6A and -6B Entry

doi:10.1155/2012/384069

Adv Virol. 2012; 2012: 384069.

Published online 2012 October 23. doi: 10.1155/2012/384069

PMCID: PMC3485865

Features of Human Herpesvirus-6A and -6B Entry

Takahiro Maeki^1
,² and Yasuko Mori^1
,²^*

¹Division of Clinical Virology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kusunoki-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0017, Japan

²Laboratory of Virology and Vaccinology, Division of Biomedical Research, National Institute of Biomedical Innovation, 7-6-8 Saito-Asagi, Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0085, Japan

*Yasuko Mori: Email: ymori/at/nibio.go.jp

Academic Editor: Anthony V. Nicola

Received August 1, 2012; Accepted September 25, 2012.

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) is a T lymphotropic herpesvirus belonging to the Betaherpesvirinae subfamily. HHV-6 was long classified into variants A and B (HHV-6A and HHV-6B); however, recently, HHV-6A and HHV-6B were reclassified as different species. The process of herpesvirus entry into target cells is complicated, and in the case of HHV-6A and HHV-6B, the detailed mechanism remains to be elucidated, although both viruses are known to enter cells via endocytosis. In this paper, (1) findings about the cellular receptor and its ligand for HHV-6A and HHV-6B are summarized, and (2) a schematic model of HHV-6A's replication cycle, including its entry, is presented. In addition, (3) reports showing the importance of lipids in both the HHV-6A envelope and target-cell membrane for viral entry are reviewed, and (4) glycoproteins involved in cell fusion are discussed.

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