Noroviruses are now recognized as the major cause of non-bacterial gastroenteritis in all age groups, and efforts are underway to develop an effective vaccine. The lack of a robust cell culture system for human noroviruses has complicated vaccine development. Hence, norovirus virus-like particles (VLPs) have played an important role in the understanding of virus structure, immune response, antigenic diversity, and vaccine design. The development of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against norovirus VLPs has allowed the identification and characterization of key antigenic sites of the virus capsid and facilitated the development of diagnostic assays.  During characterization of a panel of MAbs raised against Norwalk virus (NV), a prototype norovirus strain, the inventors identified a monoclonal antibody (MAbNV10) that proved useful in the identification of NV in tissue and in the characterization of an insertion site in the feline calicivirus (FCV) genome.  The inventors mapped the precise binding site of the MAb by peptide screening and discovered that the epitope could be expressed when fused to other proteins.  The sequence of this peptide (epitope) along with the detector antibody could be used as a new way to tag proteins for functional studies. The small size of the linear epitope, along with the strong avidity of the detector monoclonal antibody makes this system especially useful for many techniques, including immunofluorescence, Western blot, immunoprecipitation (including “pulldown” assays), and immunohistochemistry.  The inventors’ epitope system may be comparable to that of the HA tag of influenza virus that is widely used in molecular biology.

Potential Commercial Applications:

• Diagnostics
• Vaccines

Competitive Advantages: 

• Cross-reactive norovirus antibody
• Ease of manufacture
• Efficient norovirus detection

Development Stage: 

In vivo data available (animal)

Inventors:  Kim Green, Ph.D. (NIAID); Gabriel Parra, Ph.D. (NIAID); Stanislav Sosnovtsev, Ph.D. (NIAID); Karin Bok, Ph.D. (NIAID); Carlos Sandoval-Jaime, Ph.D. (NIAID); Eugenio Abente, Ph.D. (NIAID)

Intellectual Property:  HHS Reference No. E-101-2013/0

Licensing and Collaborative Research Opportunity:
The Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Office (TTIPO) is seeking parties interested in licensing or collaborative research to further co-develop this technology. For opportunities, please contact Peter Soukas, J.D., 301-594-8730; peter.soukas@nih.gov.