For the first time, researchers at CHUV’s Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and EPFL have shed light on the role of host genetics in the response to hepatitis E virus infection.
In Switzerland, one person in five has already been infected with the hepatitis E virus (genotype 3), mainly through the consumption of undercooked pork or game. In most cases, infection is asymptomatic. Nevertheless, some patients develop acute forms of hepatitis, sometimes severe, while others may present neurological manifestations, in particular Parsonage-Turner syndrome (PTS).
The occurrence of these severe forms of infection in healthy individuals with no known risk factors suggested to the researchers that human genetic factors might have an influence on the individual response to the hepatitis E virus.
This research was conducted in close collaboration between CHUV and EPFL by PD Dr. Montserrat Fraga, PD & MERclin at the Faculty of Biology and Medicine (FBM) of the University of Lausanne, Prof. Jérôme Gouttenoire, Associate Professor at FBM and Prof. Darius Moradpour, Ordinary Professor at FBM, of the CHUV’s Gastroenterology and Hepatology Service.University of Lausanne, Prof. Jérôme Gouttenoire, Associate Professor at the FBM and Prof. Darius Moradpour, Full Professor at the FBM, of the CHUV’s Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, together with Ali Saadat and Prof. Jacques Fellay of the EPFL’s Faculty of Life Sciences and the CHUV’s Center for Biomedical Data Science. Their study, recently published in HEPATOLOGY , sheds light for the first time on the role of host genetics in the clinical manifestations of HEV.
Three groups of participants were included, in collaboration with other Swiss centers and Transfusion Centers in particular: patients with symptomatic acute hepatitis E; patients with HEV-associated STP; and asymptomatic blood donors (control group). The researchers then proceeded to sequence their complete genomes and discovered, in patients with symptomatic acute hepatitis E, an enrichment of pathogenic genetic variants within the genes involved in the response to type I interferon.
This is the first clear demonstration of the role of host genetics in hepatitis E infection. This discovery provides a better understanding of the mechanisms of infection, and will enable better risk assessment in vulnerable individuals potentially exposed to this virus.
