Immunization with Leishmania tarentolae-derived norovirus virus-like particles elicits high humoral response and stimulates the production of neutralizing antibodies

BACKGROUND: Noroviruses are a major cause of epidemic and sporadic acute non-bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide. Unfortunately, the development of an effective norovirus vaccine has proven difficult and no prophylactic vaccine is currently available. Further research on norovirus vaccine development should be considered an absolute priority and novel vaccine candidates are needed. One of the recent approaches in safe vaccine development is the use of virus-like particles (VLPs). VLP-based vaccines show great immunogenic potential as they mimic the morphology and structure of viral particles without the presence of the virus genome. RESULTS: This study is the first report showing successful production of norovirus VLPs in the protozoan Leishmania tarentolae (L. tarentolae) expression system. Protozoan derived vaccine candidate is highly immunogenic and able to not only induce a strong immune response (antibody titer reached 10(4)) but also stimulate the production of neutralizing antibodies confirmed by receptor blocking assay. Antibody titers able to reduce VLP binding to the receptor by > 50% (BT(50)) were observed for 1:5–1:320 serum dilutions. CONCLUSIONS: Norovirus VLPs produced in L. tarentolae could be relevant for the development of the norovirus vaccine.