Prevalence of norovirus GII‐4 antibodies in Finnish children

Abstract

Noroviruses (NoVs) are the second most common cause of viral gastroenteritis after rotavirus in children. NoV genotype GII‐4 has emerged as the major type not only in outbreaks of NoV gastroenteritis but also endemic gastroenteritis among infants and young children worldwide. Using baculovirus‐insect cell system virus‐like particles (VLPs) of NoV genotype GII‐4 and an uncommon genotype GII‐12 were produced. These VLPs were used in enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) for detection of NoV‐specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgA antibodies in 492 serum specimens from Finnish children 0–14 years of age collected between 2006 and 2008. NoV IgG antibody prevalence was 47.3% in the age group 7–23 months and increased up to 91.2% after the age of 5 years. Avidity of NoV IgG antibodies was low in the primary infections while high avidity antibodies were detected in the recurrent infections of the older children. In GII‐4 infections, the homologous antibody response to GII‐4 VLPs was stronger than to GII‐12 VLPs but cross‐reactivity between GII‐4 and GII‐12 was observed. Binding of GII‐4 VLPs to a putative carbohydrate antigen receptor H‐type 3 could be blocked by sera from children not infected with NoV during a waterborne outbreak of acute gastroenteritis. Therefore, protection against NoV infection correlated with strong blocking activity. J. Med. Virol. 83:525–531, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Norovirus vaccines: Correlates of protection, challenges and limitations

“…Importantly, exposure to the natural infection increases with time as reflected by the accumulation of antibodies. 52 Similar results are reported in other developing countries whereby constant exposure to NoV infections in India has been described across all age groups. 53 The authors suggested that NoV infections occur in children and infants with reinfections being more common as compared to other developed settings (specifically the United Kingdom).…”

Genotype Considerations for Virus-Like Particle-Based Bivalent Norovirus Vaccine Composition

“…Maximum VLP binding was determined in wells containing VLPs without serum. Bound VLPs were detected with human NoV antiserum (29) and an anti-human IgG-HRP secondary antibody, followed by OPD substrate as described above. OD readings were determined spectrophotometrically at 490 nm with a microplate reader.…”

“…GII.4 strain NoVs have an exceptionally broad HBGA binding repertoire and high transmissibility (2), explaining the predominance of GII.4 NoV infections worldwide (28). The quantity of genotype-specific antibodies that can block the binding of NoV VLP to the HBGA has been shown to increase remarkably after NoV infection or NoV VLP immunization in humans (18,19,29,30). Prechallenge levels of blocking antibodies in human serum have been shown to positively correlate with the protection of both NoV infection and illness, and it is generally accepted that especially blocking antibodies in serum play a substantive role in protection from NoV infection (18,31).…”

Rapid and sensitive detection of norovirus antibodies in human serum with a biolayer interferometry biosensor

“…The virus is spread by contaminated food and water and from person to person via the faecal-oral pathway and can be further transmitted to food and food contact surfaces by virus-contaminated hands [9,10]. Because the biological characterisation of human NoV has been hampered by the lack of an appropriate cell culture system and animal model for the propagation of the virus, virus-like particles (VLPs) have been used extensively to study NoV structure and stability, host-cell interactions, and as a tool in diagnostic serological assays [10][11][12][13]. Structural studies have shown that the noroviral capsid is composed almost entirely of the 58 kDa VP1 capsid protein [13], which self-assembles into empty capsids called virus-like particles (VLPs) when expressed recombinantly in insect cells or in yeast [14].…”