Anti-norovirus polyclonal antibody and its potential for development of an antigen-ELISA

Norovirus (NoV) capsid proteins were expressed as virus-like particles (VLPs) by using recombinant baculovirus in insect cells, which had 5 genotypes in genogroup I and 11 genotypes in genogroup II, and the VLPs were used as immunogens. Polyclonal antibody against the VLP of GII/3 genotype showed broad-range cross-reactivity, reacting not only with intra-genogroup strains, but also inter-genogroup strains, by antibody-ELISA using 16 kinds of VLPs. Furthermore, antigen-ELISA was conducted in sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using the polyclonal antibody for capturing antigens, and three kinds of monoclonal antibodies against the VLP of GII/4 genotype for detecting antigens. This format successfully detected eight genotypes of NoV from clinical specimens and proved that polyclonal antibody, which has broad-range cross-reactivity, was capable of detecting various types of genotypes from clinical specimens. J. Med. Virol. 79: 1180–1186, 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.