Mode of swine hepatitis E virus infection and replication in primary human hepatocytes

The aim of this study was to investigate the infection and replication of swine-derived hepatitis E virus (HEV) in primary cultured human hepatocytes (PHCs). Hepatocytes were cultured from the resected normal livers of patients with metastatic tumours. These cultured hepatocytes were infected with swine-derived genotype 3 or 4 HEV. Viral replication was monitored using reverse transcriptase-quantitative PCR. The amount of HEV RNA increased in the culture media and cells following infection. Immunofluorescence staining implied that the spread of HEV infection in hepatocytes was attributed mainly to cell-to-cell transmission via the cell membrane. The sequences of the inoculated and propagated HEV were determined to examine whether sequence variation occurred during infection. Sequence analysis showed that there were no differences between inoculated and propagated HEV, demonstrating that in vitro infection and replication of swine HEV in PHCs occurred without sequence variation.