title: The Bama miniature swine is susceptible to experimental HEV infection.
abstract: The hepatitis E virus (HEV) is one of the main causes of enterically transmitted hepatitis worldwide. Although the mortality rates associated with HEV are generally low, they can be up to 28% in HEV-infected pregnant women, and the elderly are more susceptible. The reasons for this selective severity are unclear, partially because there is no suitable, easy-to-use model in which to study HEV infection. Non-human primates and standard swine have been identified as being sensitive to infection with HEV and have been used for HEV infection studies. However, studies in these animals have been limited by high housing costs and the difficulty of manipulating these animals. In the current study, we established a model of HEV infection using Bama miniature swine. The model is easy to use and is sensitive to infections with HEV genotypes 3 and 4, which are classified as zoonotic HEVs. In this model, infection of Bama miniature swine with HEV genotypes 3 and 4 caused the typical features. All Bama miniature swine that were infected with HEV genotypes 3 and 4 exhibited significant HEV viremia, shedding, anti-HEV antibody responses and partial liver inflammation. Bama miniature swine may serve as an alternative to standard swine models for the study of zoonotic HEV infection and HEV genotype specificity research.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, PR China.
authors.forename: Zi-Min
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, PR China.
authors.forename: Si-Ling
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, PR China.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ying
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, PR China.
authors.forename: Gui-Ping
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, PR China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, PR China.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, PR China.
authors.forename: Wen-Fang
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, PR China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, PR China.
authors.forename: Zi-Zheng
authors.initials: ZZ
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, PR China.|State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian 361005, PR China.
authors.forename: Ning-Shao
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Xia
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D013552:Swine; D013556:Swine, Miniature