Cholesterol depletion inhibits rabies virus infection by restricting viral adsorption and fusion

Abstract

Rabies is an ancient zoonotic disease caused by the rabies virus (RABV), and a sharp increase in rabies cases and deaths were observed following the COVID-19 pandemic, indicating that it still poses a severe public health threat in most countries in the world. Cholesterol is one of the major lipid components in cells, and the exact role of cholesterol in RABV infection remains unclear. In this study, we initially observed that cellular cholesterol levels were significantly elevated in RABV infected cells, while cholesterol depletion by using methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MβCD) could restrict RABV entry. We further found that decreasing the cholesterol level of the viral envelope could change the bullet-shaped morphology of RABV and dislodge the glycoproteins on its surface to affect RABV entry. Moreover, the depletion of cholesterol could decrease lysosomal cholesterol accumulation to inhibit RABV fusion. Finally, it was found that the depletion of cholesterol by MβCD was due to the increase of oxygen sterol production in RABV-infected cells and the enhancement of cholesterol efflux by activating liver X receptor alpha (LXRα). Together, our study reveals a novel role of cholesterol in RABV infection, providing new insight into explore of effective therapeutics for rabies.