West Nile virus entry requires cholesterol-rich membrane microdomains and is independent of alphavbeta3 integrin.

ABSTRACT: West Nile virus (WNV) has been the leading cause of viral encephalitis in the United States since 1999. The endocytic processes involved in the internalization of infectious WNV by various cell types are not well characterized, and the involvement of cholesterol-rich membrane microdomains, or lipid rafts, in the life cycle of WNV has not been investigated previously. In this study, we found that the depletion of cellular cholesterol levels by brief treatment with methyl-beta-cyclodextrin resulted in a 100-fold reduction of the titers of infectious WNV released into the culture supernatant, as well as a reduction in the number of WNV genome copies in the cholesterol-depleted cells. The addition of exogenous cholesterol to cholesterol-depleted cells reversed this effect. Cholesterol depletio

SUBMITTER: Medigeshi GR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2395215 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature