Kenzo Yonemitsu, Yutaka Terada, Ryusei Kuwata, Dung Nguyen, Nobuyuki Shiranaga, Satomi Tono, Tomoka Matsukane, Mayumi Yokoyama, Kazuo Suzuki, Hiroshi Shimoda, Ai Takano, Masahiko Muto, Ken Maeda
JOURNAL OF VIROLOGICAL METHODS 238 56-61 2016年12月 査読有り
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the causative agent of hepatitis E, a food-and water-borne disease. In developed countries, consumption of meats from pigs, wild boars and deer is a major source of infection. Although HEV and HEV-related viruses have been detected in many animal species, their zoonotic potential and prevalence has not been completely understood. To detect anti-HEV antibody in mammalian species, a simple enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was established using extract from cells expressing HEV capsid protein and protein A/G as an antigen and a reagent for detection of antibody. Absorbance in the ELISA was compared with those in our previous ELISA using VLPs and anti-swine antibody, suggesting that newly established ELISA was similarly specific and sensitive as the previous ELISA. Seroprevalence of HEV infection among wild boars was examined in Yamaguchi Prefecture, confirming that 111 of 364 wild boars (30.5%) were positive for anti-HEV antibody. Next, this ELISA was applied to humans, dogs, cats, ferrets, raccoons and masked palm civets in Japan, and anti-HEV antibodies were detected in humans, ferrets, dogs and cats. This ELISA is thus useful for serological surveys and comparison of HEV infection among various mammals, including humans. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.