HEPATITIS-E VIRUS (87A STRAIN) PROPAGATED IN A549 CELLS .1.

A strain of hepatitis E virus (HEV), the 87A strain isolated in 2BS ce lls from the feces of a patient with hepatitis E, has been reported pr eviously. In this study, the 87A strain was propagated in A549 cells, and the marked cytopathic effect (CPE) appeared in the infected monola yer cells. The size of this virus is about 30 nm in diameter. Furtherm ore, HEV-RNA from the supernatants of the virus of different passages was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification using ET 1.1 HEV primers. A band of HEV for 239 bp from PCR products was reveal ed by electro-phoresis. PCR products of the fourth passage were sequen ced. These results show that the 87A virus replicates in the A549 cell line. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.