Cell cycle perturbations induced by human herpesvirus 6 infection and their effect on virus replication.

In this study, we demonstrate that infection of HSB-2 cells with human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) resulted in the accumulation of infected cells in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle. Analysis of various cell-cycle-regulatory proteins indicated that the levels of cyclins A2, B1, and E1 were increased in HHV-6-infected cells, but there was no difference in cyclin D1 levels between mock-infected and HHV-6-infected cells. Our data also showed that inducing G2/M phase arrest in cells infected by HHV-6 provided favorable conditions for viral replication.