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Immunogenicity and efficacy of a bacterially expressed HEV ORF3 peptide, assessed by experimental infection of primates

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Abstract

A 12.4-kDa peptide, corresponding to the entire ORF3 protein of hepatitis E virus (HEV), derived from human HEV genotype 4 and expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein with a 17.5-kDa fragment of interleukin (IL)-1β at the N-terminus, was recognized by HEV-reactive sera. Eight monkeys were immunized with the purified peptide, and seven were used as non-immunized controls. All 15 monkeys were challenged with HEV genotype 1 or 4. All control animals developed infection and hepatitis, and all but one vaccinated monkey became infected. Nevertheless, the vaccine was effective in reducing the virus titer and shortening the duration of viremia and fecal shedding. Furthermore, the vaccine provided some protection against hepatitis (1 of 2 monkeys in the two-dose regimen and 4 of 6 in the three-dose regimen did not develop severe hepatitis) compared to the controls. These results suggest that immunization with the bacterially expressed peptide may partially prevent experimental hepatitis, and even infection, in primates, following intravenous challenge with high doses of two HEV genotypes.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Chuan Ji for assistance with the development of the enzyme immunoassays and Junsheng Cui for assistance with the preparation of vaccine. This study was supported by the “863” project (grant: 2006AA02Z453) from the Ministry of Science and Technology, China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cell Biology, National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products, No. 2 Tiantanxili, 100050, Beijing, China

    Hongxia Ma & Youchun Wang

  2. College of Life Science, Jilin University, 130012, Changchun, Jilin, China

    Hongxia Ma, Wei Kong & Youchun Wang

  3. Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Taiping Street, Beijing, China

    Xiaoguo Song & Heqiu Zhang

  4. Division of Medicine, University College London Medical School, Windeyer Building, 46 Cleveland Street, London, W1T 4JF, UK

    Tim J. Harrison

  5. Department of Virology, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Nanning, China

    Rongcheng Li & Guoyong Huang

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  1. Hongxia Ma
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Correspondence to Youchun Wang.

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Ma, H., Song, X., Harrison, T.J. et al. Immunogenicity and efficacy of a bacterially expressed HEV ORF3 peptide, assessed by experimental infection of primates. Arch Virol 154, 1641–1648 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-009-0496-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-009-0496-4

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