Department of Internal Medicine, Affiliated Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University School of Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210009, China.
Virus Res. 2013 Sep;176(1-2):101-6. doi: 10.1016/j.virusres.2013.05.013. Epub 2013 Jun 3.
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a zoonotic pathogen and all four established genotypes of HEV belong to a single serotype. The recently identified rabbit HEV is antigenically and genetically related to human HEV. It is unclear whether rabbit HEV belongs to the same serotype as human HEV. The purpose of this study was to determine the serotypic relationship between rabbit and human HEVs. HEV ORF2 recombinant capsid protein p166 (amino acids 452-617) of four known HEV genotypes and rabbit HEV were used to induce immune serum, which were evaluated for their ability to neutralize human HEV genotype 1, 4, and rabbit HEV strains by an in vitro PCR-based HEV neutralization assay. Immune sera of five kinds of p166 proteins were all found to neutralize or cross-neutralize the three different HEV strains, suggesting a common neutralization epitope(s) existing between human and rabbit HEV. Rabbit models of a second-passage rabbit HEV strain, JS204-2, and a genotype 4 human HEV strain, NJ703, were established as evidenced by fecal virus shedding, viremia and anti-HEV IgG seroconversion. Six rabbits, recovered from JS204 infection, were challenged with NJ703, and another six recovered from NJ703 infection were challenged with JS204-2. After challenge, viremia was not detected, shorter fecal virus shedding durations and obvious early stage declines in anti-HEV IgG values were observed. The results from this study indicate that rabbit HEV belongs to the same serotype as human HEV.
戊型肝炎病毒（HEV）是一种人畜共患病病原体，所有四种已确定的 HEV 基因型都属于单一血清型。最近发现的兔 HEV 在抗原性和遗传上与人 HEV 相关。目前尚不清楚兔 HEV 是否与人 HEV 属于同一血清型。本研究旨在确定兔和人 HEV 之间的血清型关系。使用四种已知 HEV 基因型和兔 HEV 的 ORF2 重组衣壳蛋白 p166（氨基酸 452-617）诱导免疫血清，通过体外基于 PCR 的 HEV 中和测定评估其中和人 HEV 基因型 1、4 和兔 HEV 株的能力。发现五种 p166 蛋白的免疫血清均能中和或交叉中和三种不同的 HEV 株，表明人兔 HEV 之间存在共同的中和表位。通过粪便病毒脱落、病毒血症和抗 HEV IgG 血清转化，证实了第二传代兔 HEV 株 JS204-2 和基因型 4 人 HEV 株 NJ703 的兔模型的建立。从 JS204 感染中恢复的 6 只兔子接受了 NJ703 的挑战，而从 NJ703 感染中恢复的 6 只兔子接受了 JS204-2 的挑战。挑战后，未检测到病毒血症，粪便病毒脱落持续时间缩短，抗 HEV IgG 值明显早期下降。本研究结果表明，兔 HEV 与人 HEV 属于同一血清型。
