93G, a novel sporadic strain of hepatitis E virus in South China isolated by cell culture

The nucleotide sequence of Hepatitis E virus (HEV) serous isolates (G-9 and G-20) from Guangzhou, South China, which has been reported previously, are divergent significantly from those of other reported HEV isolates. in orde r to investigate more extensively the Guangzhou isolate, the 93G strain was isolated from the faecal sample of the same individual as G-9 by A549 cell culture and identified immunologically and by molecular biological techniq ues. The results showed that strain 93G could be propagated in an A549 cell line causing cytopathic effects. The viral particles were aggregated by a specific antibody to HEV Chinese Xinjiang strain (87A) observed using immun oelectron microscopy and were similar morphologically to HEV from other sou rces. In this study, an indirect fluorescent antibody assay was first devel oped to examine HEV antigen in the infected cells, by immunofluorescence in the cytoplasm and on the surface membrane of the cells. The 58-kDa and 82- kDa native structural proteins of HEV were also identified in this study by Western blotting. The 93G genome showed high homology (93%) with G-9 previ ously reported but was also as divergent from the Burmese, Mexican, Chinese Xinjiang isolates and the recently reported US-1 isolate, as was G-9. The data presented indicate that 93G propagated in A549 cells, together with it s related serum isolate G-9, represents another HEV strain circulating in C hina and is responsible for some sporadic hepatitis E infections. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.