The Establishment of Cellular Attachment Model for Hepatitis E Virus(HEV) and Its Application in the Identification of HEV Cellular Attachment Region

We have previously expressed a recombinant hepatitis E virus capsid protein p239(ORF2,aa368-606) which showed good immunogenicity and reactivity,and has been confirmed to have a simulated structure compared with native viruses. In the present study,p239 was used to simulate native HEV to investigate the attachment of HEV on host cells.Our data showed that p239 specifically attached on HepG2 cells as several HEV neutralizing monoclonal antibodies(MAbs) could block p239 attachment on cell surface.Further,by using MAbs(against) linear epitopes of p239,we identified a possible cellular binding site(aa423-443) for the capsid protein of HEV.Our data provide an important clue for the further analyzing of HEV-host cell interaction.