Hepatitis E laboratory tests

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: João André Alves Silva, M.D. [2]

Overview

Laboratory Findings

Hepatitis E cannot be distinguished from other types of hepatitis based on clinical manifestations alone. Every patient with acute or chronic hepatitis, which cannot be explained by other causes, should be tested for hepatitis E.[1] Unfortunately, the different available assays show different specificity and sensitivity, and are only available at certain centers.[2]

Throughout the course of infection, serologic markers will vary according to the stage of the disease:[2][3][1]

Laboratory findings
Stage of Infection Findings
Incubation period
Symptom onset
Recovery
  • Viral clearance
  • Increase of IgG titers (detectable for years to life)
  • Decrease of IgM levels (detectable for 3 to 12 months)
  • HEV detected in stool during the initial period of recovery

The detection of increased levels of anti-HEV IgG may therefore indicate recent HEV infection.[1] Several assays are based on the HEV genotype, therefore, even though the specificity may be high, sensitivity of different tests for the remaining genotypes may be lower.[1]

Immunocompromised patients may have a delayed immune response to HEV, and hence delayed seroconversion. Therefore, these patients should be tested for HEV RNA.[4] The RNA of the virus may be detected in blood and stool for several weeks, and quantified in order to evaluate the response to treatment[1][5]

Enzyme Immunoassays

Enzyme immunoassays are directed for the ORF2 and ORF3 proteins. These tests have low sensitivity and specificity, requiring further improvements.[6]

RT-PCR

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Wedemeyer H, Pischke S, Manns MP (2012). "Pathogenesis and treatment of hepatitis e virus infection". Gastroenterology. 142 (6): 1388–1397.e1. doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2012.02.014. PMID 22537448.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Hoofnagle JH, Nelson KE, Purcell RH (2012). "Hepatitis E." N Engl J Med. 367 (13): 1237–44. doi:10.1056/NEJMra1204512. PMID 23013075.
  3. Kamar N, Bendall R, Legrand-Abravanel F, Xia NS, Ijaz S, Izopet J; et al. (2012). "Hepatitis E." Lancet. 379 (9835): 2477–88. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(11)61849-7. PMID 22549046.
  4. Pischke S, Suneetha PV, Baechlein C, Barg-Hock H, Heim A, Kamar N; et al. (2010). "Hepatitis E virus infection as a cause of graft hepatitis in liver transplant recipients". Liver Transpl. 16 (1): 74–82. doi:10.1002/lt.21958. PMID 19866448.
  5. Baylis SA, Hanschmann KM, Blümel J, Nübling CM, HEV Collaborative Study Group (2011). "Standardization of hepatitis E virus (HEV) nucleic acid amplification technique-based assays: an initial study to evaluate a panel of HEV strains and investigate laboratory performance". J Clin Microbiol. 49 (4): 1234–9. doi:10.1128/JCM.02578-10. PMC 3122834. PMID 21307208.
  6. Aggarwal R, Jameel S (2011). "Hepatitis E." Hepatology. 54 (6): 2218–26. doi:10.1002/hep.24674. PMID 21932388.

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