Methods and compositions for inhibiting hepatitis E virus

A method of identifying an agent that inhibits hepatitis E virus (HEV) infectivity, comprising:

• a) introducing into a cell culture 1) a nucleic acid that comprises an HEV open reading frame 2 (ORF2) nucleotide sequence, 2) a nucleic acid that comprises an HEV ORF3 nucleotide sequence, and 3) a nucleic acid that i) comprises a reporter gene and an HEV ORF1 nucleotide sequence and ii) lacks HEV ORF2 and ORF3 nucleotide sequences;
• b) contacting the cell culture in step a) with an agent to be tested for anti-HEV activity;
• c) harvesting the cell culture media from the cell culture that has been contacted with the agent;
• d) combining the harvested media with a naïve cell culture;
• e) measuring a level of activity of the reporter gene in the naïve cell culture;
• and
• f) comparing the level of reporter activity in the naïve cell culture measured in step e) to a reference activity level,
• wherein a decrease in measured activity level as compared to the reference activity level indicates that the agent inhibits HEV infectivity.