Production of infectious ferret hepatitis E virus in a human hepatocarcinoma cell line PLC/PRF/5

• A cell culture system for ferret HEV was established.
• The ferret HEV particles were associated with cell membrane.
• The ferret HEV grown in PLC/PRF/5 was infectious.
• The ferret HEV cell culture system might be useful to understand the life cycle, mechanism of infection and replication of ferret HEV.

A strain of ferret hepatitis E virus (HEV), sF4370, isolated from an imported ferret was used to inoculate a human hepatocarcinoma cell line, PLC/PRF/5. The virus genome and capsid protein were detected in the cell culture supernatant. Immunofluorescence microscopy indicated that the capsid protein was located in the cytoplasm. The virus particles were purified from the culture supernatant by sucrose gradient ultracentrifugation. The capsid protein with molecular mass of ∼72 kDa was detected in fractions with density of 1.150–1.162 g/cm3, and particles of ferret HEV was associated with cell membrane. The virus recovered from the supernatant was serially passaged with PLC/PRF/5 cells and had the ability to infect ferrets by oral inoculation, indicating that the ferret HEV grown in PLC/PRF/5 was infectious. The establishment of ferret HEV cell culture system might be useful to understand the life cycle, mechanism of infection and replication of ferret HEV.