title: Ferret hepatitis E virus infection induces acute hepatitis and persistent infection in ferrets.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology II, Gakuen 4-7-1, Musashi-murayama, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan. Electronic address: litc@nih.go.jp.
authors.forename: Tian-Cheng
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University Medical College, Jiangsu Road 16, Qingdao 266003, China.
authors.forename: Tingting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology II, Gakuen 4-7-1, Musashi-murayama, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan.
authors.forename: Sayaka
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yoshizaki
authors.affiliation: Division of Experimental Animals Research, Gakuen 4-7-1, Musashi-murayama, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ami
authors.affiliation: Division of Experimental Animals Research, Gakuen 4-7-1, Musashi-murayama, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuriko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suzaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology II, Gakuen 4-7-1, Musashi-murayama, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan.
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ishii
authors.affiliation: Influenza Virus Research Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Gakuen 4-7-1, Musashi-murayama, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan.
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kishida
authors.affiliation: Influenza Virus Research Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Gakuen 4-7-1, Musashi-murayama, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan.
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shirakura
authors.affiliation: Influenza Virus Research Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Gakuen 4-7-1, Musashi-murayama, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan.
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Asanuma
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0781, Japan.
authors.forename: Naokazu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology II, Gakuen 4-7-1, Musashi-murayama, Tokyo 208-0011, Japan.
authors.forename: Takaji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wakita
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005243:Feces / Q000821:virology; D005289:Ferrets / Q000821:virology*; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000502:physiology*; D007564:Japan; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral; D000410:Alanine Transaminase
keywords: ALT; AST; Animal model; Ferret HEV; Persistent infection