Dromedary camel hepatitis E virus is a novel HEV that belongs to the family Hepeviridae, and is classified as genotype 7 HEV (HEV-7). Since HEV-7 is transmitted from camels to humans and causes acute hepatitis E, this virus is a non-negligible pathogen for zoonosis, and a vaccine against HEV-7 infection is urgently needed. Here, we first intravenously inoculated HEV-7 to rhesus monkeys to explore the susceptibility, and we established an animal model. We then used virus-like particles (VLPs) of HEV-1 (HEV-1 VLPs) and HEV-3 (HEV-3 VLPs), a candidate hepatitis E vaccine, to intramuscularly inoculate rhesus monkeys. The monkeys elicited IgG antibody titers as high as >1:102,400 against heterologous HEV-7 without any adjuvants. The HEV-1 VLPs and HEV-3 VLPs-immunized monkeys were challenged intravenously with HEV-7, and they were protected completely from the infection, demonstrating that these VLPs could be a usable vaccine against HEV-7 infection. We also observed that HEV-7-infected rhesus monkeys did not show any liver damage during these experiments. Further efforts are necessary to establish an animal model for investigation of the pathogenesis of hepatitis E caused by HEV-7 infection.

单峰骆驼戊型肝炎病毒是一种新型HEV，属于Hepeviridae家族，并被归类为7型HEV（HEV-7）。由于HEV-7是从骆驼传播给人类的，并导致急性戊型肝炎，因此该病毒是人畜共患病不可忽视的病原体，因此迫切需要针对HEV-7感染的疫苗。在这里，我们首先向恒河猴静脉内接种HEV-7，以探索其敏感性，并建立了动物模型。然后，我们使用戊型肝炎候选疫苗HEV-1（HEV-1 VLP）和HEV-3（HEV-3 VLP）的病毒样颗粒（VLP）肌内接种恒河猴。猴子在没有任何佐剂的情况下引起针对异源HEV-7的IgG抗体效价高达> 1：102,400。对HEV-1 VLP和HEV-3 VLP免疫的猴子静脉注射HEV-7，可以完全保护它们免受感染，证明这些VLP可能是对抗HEV-7感染的有用疫苗。我们还观察到在这些实验中，感染HEV-7的恒河猴没有显示出任何肝损伤。建立动物模型以研究由HEV-7感染引起的戊型肝炎的发病机理还需要进一步的努力。