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Article

A Cross-Species Transmission of a Camel-Derived Genotype 8 Hepatitis E Virus to Rabbits

1
Department of Virology II, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan
2
Division of Experimental Animals Research, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan
3
Department of Pathology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan
4
Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Osaka 565-0781, Japan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Pathogens 2021, 10(11), 1374; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10111374
Submission received: 12 September 2021 / Revised: 14 October 2021 / Accepted: 21 October 2021 / Published: 24 October 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases)

Abstract

Novel genotypes of hepatitis E virus (HEV), i.e., HEV-5, HEV-7, and HEV-8, have been identified in wild boar, dromedary camels, and Bactrian camels, respectively, and they transmit to cynomolgus monkeys in a trans-species manner, raising the potential for zoonotic infection. Rabbits are the natural reservoir for rabbit HEV, but they are also susceptible to HEV-3 and HEV-4. It has been unknown whether rabbits are susceptible to HEV-5, HEV-7, and HEV-8. To investigate the infectivity of novel HEVs in rabbits and to assess whether rabbits are appropriate animal models for these HEVs, we inoculated Japanese white rabbits with HEV-5, HEV-7, and HEV-8, respectively. We observed that viral RNA was present in the fecal specimens of the HEV-8-inoculated rabbits and anti-HEV IgG antibodies were present in its sera, although anti-HEV IgM was undetectable and no significant elevation of ALT was observed. These results indicated that HEV-8 crossed species and infected the rabbits. No evidence for replication was observed in HEV-5 and HEV-7, suggesting that rabbits are not susceptible to these genotypes. The antibodies elicited in the HEV-8-infected rabbits did not protect them from the rabbit HEV challenge, suggesting that the antigenicity differs between HEV-8 and rabbit HEV. Antigenic analyses demonstrated that anti-HEV-8 antibodies reacted more strongly with homologous HEV-8 virus-like particles (VLPs) compared to heterologous rabbit HEV VLPs, but anti-rabbit HEV antibody had similar reactivity to the VLPs of rabbit HEV and HEV-8, suggesting that HEV-8 lacks some epitope(s) that exist in rabbit HEV and induced the neutralizing antibodies against rabbit HEV.
Keywords: bactrian camel hepatitis E virus; HEV-5; HEV-7; HEV-8; cross-species infection; rabbit; virus-like particle; VLP bactrian camel hepatitis E virus; HEV-5; HEV-7; HEV-8; cross-species infection; rabbit; virus-like particle; VLP

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MDPI and ACS Style

Zhang, W.; Ami, Y.; Suzaki, Y.; Kataoka, M.; Takeda, N.; Muramatsu, M.; Li, T. A Cross-Species Transmission of a Camel-Derived Genotype 8 Hepatitis E Virus to Rabbits. Pathogens 2021, 10, 1374. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10111374

AMA Style

Zhang W, Ami Y, Suzaki Y, Kataoka M, Takeda N, Muramatsu M, Li T. A Cross-Species Transmission of a Camel-Derived Genotype 8 Hepatitis E Virus to Rabbits. Pathogens. 2021; 10(11):1374. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10111374

Chicago/Turabian Style

Zhang, Wenjing, Yasushi Ami, Yuriko Suzaki, Michiyo Kataoka, Naokazu Takeda, Masamichi Muramatsu, and Tiancheng Li. 2021. "A Cross-Species Transmission of a Camel-Derived Genotype 8 Hepatitis E Virus to Rabbits" Pathogens 10, no. 11: 1374. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10111374

APA Style

Zhang, W., Ami, Y., Suzaki, Y., Kataoka, M., Takeda, N., Muramatsu, M., & Li, T. (2021). A Cross-Species Transmission of a Camel-Derived Genotype 8 Hepatitis E Virus to Rabbits. Pathogens, 10(11), 1374. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10111374

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