Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infections are one of the most common causes of acute viral hepatitis. Hepatitis causes over three million symptomatic cases and 70,000 deaths worldwide each year. There is no vaccine or specific active ingredient.

In the past, it was assumed that the virus affects liver cells, but more recently researchers have also assumed that it infects nerve cells, which can lead to neurological diseases. However, the resulting disease process is still largely unknown, which is why the scientists wanted to carry out investigations using an in vitro model.

Primary neurons infected with hepatitis E.
Copyright: Molecular and Medical Virology, RUB.

Kidney epithelial cells from human urine were reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells in order to generate neuronal precursor cells, which then differentiated into neurons. Using the culture, the researchers led by Prof. Elke Steinmann, Head of the Department of Molecular & Medical Virology at Ruhr University Bochum, were able to discover that hepatitis E viruses are capable of infecting the nerve cells directly. These cells have a low immune response to the virus and are therefore unable to protect themselves against it.

The researchers also observed that the extensions of the nerve cells shorten upon contact with HEV. “This is an indication of morphological changes caused by the virus, which can also be observed in other viral diseases,” the researchers explain in a recent press release.

Original publication:
Jagst M, Gömer A, Augustyniak S, Klöhn M, Rehm A, Ulrich RG, Bader V, Winklhofer KF, Brüggemann Y, Gold R, Gisevius B, Todt D, Steinmann E. Modeling extrahepatic hepatitis E virus infection in induced human primary neurons. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Nov 19;121(47):e2411434121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2411434121. Epub 2024 Nov 15. PMID: 39546567.

Press release:
https://news.rub.de/presseinformationen/wissenschaft/2024-11-18-virologie-wenn-hepatitis-e-viren-nervenzellen-angreifen