TY - JOUR
T1 - A Nationwide Survey of Hepatitis E Virus Infection and Chronic Hepatitis E in Liver Transplant Recipients in Japan
AU - Inagaki, Yuki
AU - Oshiro, Yukio
AU - Tanaka, Tomohiro
AU - Yoshizumi, Tomoharu
AU - Okajima, Hideaki
AU - Ishiyama, Kohei
AU - Nakanishi, Chikashi
AU - Hidaka, Masaaki
AU - Wada, Hiroshi
AU - Hibi, Taizo
AU - Takagi, Kosei
AU - Honda, Masaki
AU - Kuramitsu, Kaori
AU - Tanaka, Hideaki
AU - Tohyama, Taiji
AU - Ikegami, Toshihiko
AU - Imura, Satoru
AU - Shimamura, Tsuyoshi
AU - Nakayama, Yoshimi
AU - Urahashi, Taizen
AU - Yamagishi, Kazumasa
AU - Ohnishi, Hiroshi
AU - Nagashima, Shigeo
AU - Takahashi, Masaharu
AU - Shirabe, Ken
AU - Kokudo, Norihiro
AU - Okamoto, Hiroaki
AU - Ohkohchi, Nobuhiro
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported in part by a grant from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan ( H24-Hepatitis-General-002 ). The grant supported collecting the patients' samples and clinical data, and the measurement of the samples.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 The Authors.
PY - 2015/11/1
Y1 - 2015/11/1
N2 - Background: Recently, chronic hepatitis E has been increasingly reported in organ transplant recipients in European countries. In Japan, the prevalence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection after transplantation remains unclear, so we conducted a nationwide cross-sectional study to clarify the prevalence of chronic HEV infection in Japanese liver transplant recipients. Methods: A total of 1893 liver transplant recipients in 17 university hospitals in Japan were examined for the presence of immunoglobulin G (IgG), IgM and IgA classes of anti-HEV antibodies, and HEV RNA in serum. Findings: The prevalence of anti-HEV IgG, IgM and IgA class antibodies was 2.9% (54/1893), 0.05% (1/1893) and 0% (0/1893), respectively. Of 1651 patients tested for HEV RNA, two patients (0.12%) were found to be positive and developed chronic infection after liver transplantation. In both cases, HEV RNA was also detected in one of the blood products transfused at the perioperative period. Analysis of the HEV genomes revealed that the HEV isolates obtained from the recipients and the transfused blood products were identical in both cases, indicating transfusion-transmitted HEV infection. Interpretation: The prevalence of HEV antibodies in liver transplant recipients was 2.9%, which is low compared with the healthy population in Japan and with organ transplant recipients in European countries; however, the present study found, for the first time, two Japanese patients with chronic HEV infection that was acquired via blood transfusion during or after liver transplantation.
AB - Background: Recently, chronic hepatitis E has been increasingly reported in organ transplant recipients in European countries. In Japan, the prevalence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection after transplantation remains unclear, so we conducted a nationwide cross-sectional study to clarify the prevalence of chronic HEV infection in Japanese liver transplant recipients. Methods: A total of 1893 liver transplant recipients in 17 university hospitals in Japan were examined for the presence of immunoglobulin G (IgG), IgM and IgA classes of anti-HEV antibodies, and HEV RNA in serum. Findings: The prevalence of anti-HEV IgG, IgM and IgA class antibodies was 2.9% (54/1893), 0.05% (1/1893) and 0% (0/1893), respectively. Of 1651 patients tested for HEV RNA, two patients (0.12%) were found to be positive and developed chronic infection after liver transplantation. In both cases, HEV RNA was also detected in one of the blood products transfused at the perioperative period. Analysis of the HEV genomes revealed that the HEV isolates obtained from the recipients and the transfused blood products were identical in both cases, indicating transfusion-transmitted HEV infection. Interpretation: The prevalence of HEV antibodies in liver transplant recipients was 2.9%, which is low compared with the healthy population in Japan and with organ transplant recipients in European countries; however, the present study found, for the first time, two Japanese patients with chronic HEV infection that was acquired via blood transfusion during or after liver transplantation.
KW - Chronic hepatitis E
KW - Hepatitis E virus
KW - Liver transplantation
KW - Transfusion
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ebiom.2015.09.030
DO - 10.1016/j.ebiom.2015.09.030
M3 - Article
C2 - 26870785
AN - SCOPUS:84958831315
SN - 2352-3964
VL - 2
SP - 1607
EP - 1612
JO - EBioMedicine
JF - EBioMedicine
IS - 11
ER -
