The hepatitis E virus affects the liver. But infected liver cells secrete a viral protein that reacts with antibodies in the blood and may form complexes that can damage the filter structure of the kidneys, as researchers from the University of Zurich and the University Hospital Zurich have proven for the first time. The hepatitis E virus infects some 70 million people every year.
"This infection is the most common form of acute hepatitis and a major global health problem," says Achim Weber, professor of pathology at the University of Zurich (UZH) and the University Hospital Zurich. In the majority of cases, the infection is asymptomatic or mild. However, sometimes it not only involves serious damage to the liver, but also to the kidneys.
Gaining an insight into the disease mechanism "We've known this for a long time, but no one understood exactly why," says Weber. Now, two renal pathology specialists, Birgit Helmchen and Ariana Gaspert, and molecular biologist Anne-Laure Leblond from Weber's team—in collaboration with researchers from France and colleagues from various hospitals in Switzerland—have gained an insight into the underlying disease mechanism based on tissue samples from patients. The work is published in Nature Communications .
The infected liver cells produce an excess of a viral protein that can bind with other viral proteins to form a viral envelope. Because the virus's genetic material replicates to a far lesser extent, the vast majority of the envelopes .