Li Tian-Cheng, Yang Tingting, Yoshizaki Sayaka, Ami Yasushi, Suzaki Yuriko, Ishii Koji, Kishida Noriko, Shirakura Masayuki, Asanuma Hideki, Takeda Naokazu, Wakita Takaji
Department of Virology II, Gakuen 4-7-1, Musashi-murayama, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan.
Department of Clinical Laboratory, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University Medical College, Jiangsu Road 16, Qingdao 266003, China.
Vet Microbiol. 2016 Feb 1;183:30-6. doi: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2015.11.014. Epub 2015 Nov 26.
Ferret hepatitis E virus (HEV), a novel hepatitis E virus, has been identified in ferrets. However, the pathogenicity of ferret HEV remains unclear. In the present study, we compared the HEV RNA-positivity rates and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels of 63 ferrets between before and after import from the US to Japan. We found that the ferret HEV-RNA positivity rates were increased from 12.7% (8/63) to 60.3% (38/63), and ALT elevation was observed in 65.8% (25/38) of the ferret HEV RNA-positive ferrets, indicating that ferret HEV infection is responsible for liver damage. From long term-monitoring of ferret HEV infection we determined that this infection in ferrets exhibits three patterns: sub-clinical infection, acute hepatitis, and persistent infection. The ALT elevation was also observed in ferret HEV-infected ferrets in a primary infection experiment. These results indicate that the ferret HEV infection induced acute hepatitis and persistent infection in ferrets, suggesting that the ferrets are a candidate animal model for immunological as well as pathological studies of hepatitis E.
雪貂戊型肝炎病毒（HEV）是一种新型戊型肝炎病毒，已在雪貂中被鉴定出来。然而，雪貂戊型肝炎病毒的致病性仍不清楚。在本研究中，我们比较了63只从美国进口到日本前后的雪貂的HEV RNA阳性率和丙氨酸转氨酶（ALT）水平。我们发现，雪貂HEV-RNA阳性率从12.7%（8/63）增加到60.3%（38/63），并且在65.8%（25/38）的雪貂HEV RNA阳性雪貂中观察到ALT升高，这表明雪貂HEV感染是肝损伤的原因。通过对雪貂HEV感染的长期监测，我们确定雪貂中的这种感染表现出三种模式：亚临床感染、急性肝炎和持续感染。在一次原发性感染实验中，也在雪貂HEV感染的雪貂中观察到ALT升高。这些结果表明，雪貂HEV感染在雪貂中诱发了急性肝炎和持续感染，这表明雪貂是戊型肝炎免疫学和病理学研究的候选动物模型。
