Literature detail

Cross-species infection of pigs with a novel rabbit, but not rat, strain of hepatitis E virus isolated in the United States.

Caitlin M Cossaboom¹ Laura Córdoba¹ Brenton J Sanford¹ Pablo Piñeyro¹ Scott P Kenney¹ Barbara A Dryman¹ Youchun Wang² Xiang-Jin Meng¹

Affiliations 2 institutions

Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, Virginia, USA.
Department of Cell Biology, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing, PR China.

PMID 22535776 2012 J Gen Virol eng ppublish

PubMed DOI Browse context

Article

Publication summary

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an important human pathogen. In addition to humans, HEV has also been identified in pig, chicken, mongoose, deer, rat, rabbit and fish. There are four recognized and two putative genotypes of mammalian HEV. Genotypes 1 and 2 are restricted to humans, while genotypes 3 and 4 are zoonotic. The recently identified rabbit HEV is a distant member of genotype 3. Here, we first expressed and purified the recombinant capsid protein of rabbit HEV and showed that the capsid protein of rabbit HEV cross-reacted with antibodies raised against avian, rat, swine and human HEV. Conversely, we showed that antibodies against rabbit HEV cross-reacted with capsid proteins derived from chicken, rat, swine and human HEV. Since pigs are the natural host of genotype 3 HEV, we then determined if rabbit HEV infects pigs. Twenty pigs were divided into five groups of four each and intravenously inoculated with PBS, US rabbit HEV, Chinese rabbit HEV, US rat HEV and swine HEV, respectively. Results showed that only half of the pigs inoculated with rabbit HEV had low levels of viraemia and faecal virus shedding, indicative of active but not robust HEV infection. Infection of pigs by rabbit HEV was further verified by transmission of the virus recovered from pig faeces to naïve rabbits. Pigs inoculated with rat HEV showed no evidence of infection. Preliminary results suggest that rabbit HEV is antigenically related to other HEV strains and infects pigs and that rat HEV failed to infect pigs.

Animals Antibodies, Viral Antigens, Viral China Feces Hepatitis E Hepatitis E virus Humans Immunoglobulin G Rabbits Rats Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction RNA, Viral Species Specificity Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms Swine Swine Diseases Time Factors

Structured evidence records

Evidence records

5 total

Cross Species Transmission 2 records

Cross Species Transmission Extraction confidence 0.98

Key finding

Rabbit hepatitis E virus was experimentally shown to infect pigs, confirming cross-species transmission between rabbits and pigs.

Virus

Host

Location

Supporting text

Results showed that only half of the pigs inoculated with rabbit HEV had low levels of viraemia and faecal virus shedding, indicative of active but not robust HEV infection. Infection of pigs by rabbit HEV was further verified by transmission of the virus recovered from pig faeces to naïve rabbits.

Method: experimental infection; virus detection; viraemia measurement
Study design: animal experiment
Transmission direction: animal-to-animal
Geographic raw: United States
Country inferred: United States

Cross Species Transmission Extraction confidence 0.95

Key finding

Rat hepatitis E virus failed to infect pigs under experimental conditions, indicating lack of cross-species transmission.

Virus

Host

Location

Supporting text

Pigs inoculated with rat HEV showed no evidence of infection.

Method: experimental infection; virus detection
Study design: animal experiment
Transmission direction: animal-to-animal
Geographic raw: United States
Country inferred: United States

Host Range Experiment 2 records

Host Range Experiment Extraction confidence 0.95

Key finding

Rabbit hepatitis E virus infected pigs, causing detectable viraemia and fecal virus shedding indicative of limited cross-species infection.

Virus

Host

Location

Supporting text

Twenty pigs were divided into five groups of four each and intravenously inoculated with PBS, US rabbit HEV, Chinese rabbit HEV, US rat HEV and swine HEV, respectively. Results showed that only half of the pigs inoculated with rabbit HEV had low levels of viraemia and faecal virus shedding, indicative of active but not robust HEV infection.

Method: experimental infection; virus transmission assay
Sample type: blood; feces
Experimental system: in vivo animal experiment

Host Range Experiment Extraction confidence 0.95

Key finding

Rat hepatitis E virus failed to infect pigs in experimental inoculation.

Virus

Host

Location

Supporting text

Pigs inoculated with rat HEV showed no evidence of infection.

Method: experimental infection
Experimental system: in vivo animal experiment

Serological Evidence 1 records

Serological Evidence Extraction confidence 0.85

Key finding

Rabbit hepatitis E virus capsid protein exhibited serological cross-reactivity with antibodies from avian, rat, swine, and human HEV, demonstrating antigenic relatedness among these HEV strains.

Virus

Host

Location

Supporting text

The capsid protein of rabbit HEV cross-reacted with antibodies raised against avian, rat, swine and human HEV. Conversely, antibodies against rabbit HEV cross-reacted with capsid proteins derived from chicken, rat, swine and human HEV.

Sample type: antibody

Citation context

References

52 references

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Evidence overview

Evidence 5

Types 3

Virus 1

Host 6

Evidence types

Cross Species Transmission 2 Host Range Experiment 2 Serological Evidence 1

Linked entities

Viruses

Hosts

Locations

Publication metadata

Journal: The Journal of general virology
Volume / Issue / Pages: 93 / Pt 8 / 1687-1695
ISSN: 1465-2099
Journal country: England
DOI: 10.1099/vir.0.041509-0