title: Myelin-associated glycoprotein mediates membrane fusion and entry of neurotropic herpesviruses.
abstract: Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) and herpes simplex virus (HSV) are prevalent neurotropic herpesviruses that cause various nervous system diseases. Similar to other enveloped viruses, membrane fusion is an essential process for viral entry. Therefore, identification of host molecules that mediate membrane fusion is important to understand the mechanism of viral infection. Here, we demonstrate that myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG), mainly distributed in neural tissues, associates with VZV glycoprotein B (gB) and promotes cell-cell fusion when coexpressed with VZV gB and gH/gL. VZV preferentially infected MAG-transfected oligodendroglial cells. MAG also associated with HSV-1 gB and enhanced HSV-1 infection of promyelocytes. These findings suggested that MAG is involved in VZV and HSV infection of neural tissues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunochemistry, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases and WPI Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
authors.forename: Tadahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suenaga
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Satoh
authors.forename: Pranee
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Somboonthum
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawaguchi
authors.forename: Yasuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Hisashi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Arase
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D016466:CHO Cells; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002648:Child; D006224:Cricetinae; D003412:Cricetulus; D006562:Herpes Zoster / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000821:virology; D006564:Herpesviridae / Q000502:physiology*; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000821:virology*; D014645:Herpesvirus 3, Human / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000196:embryology / Q000821:virology; D008545:Melanoma; D008561:Membrane Fusion; D018992:Myelin-Associated Glycoprotein / Q000502:physiology; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000821:virology*; D009836:Oligodendroglia / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D018992:Myelin-Associated Glycoprotein