Abstract
Human Noroviruses (HuNoVs) are considered the main cause of gastroenteritis in developed and developing countries. Aim of this research was to recombinant production of some structural and functional Norovirus proteins and to determine their immunogenicity in mice. Synthetic VP1, VP2, p22 and a polypeptide (EP123) sequences were amplified with PCR and then amplicons in pET-30a (+) expression vector were transformed into E. coli BL21 cells. Recombinantly produced proteins were purified by Ni-NTA chromotograhy and ammonium sulphate precipitation. Molecular weights of recombinant VP1, VP2, P22 and EP123 were estimated as 63, 34.4, 26 and 27.9 kDa, respectively. Indirect ELISA method was applied to detect IgG levels from serum samples of vaccinated mice. Considering that samples with a p/n ratio of 2 and greater than 2 were positive, VP1 was found to be immunogenic up to a dilution of 1/160 (p/n = 2.09). While VP2 and P22 were found to be immunogenic up to a dilution of 1/80 and 1/20 respectively, EP123 did not give positive result in any dilution. These results suggest that recombinantly produced VP1, has immunogenic potential, whereas VP2, P22 and EP123 polypeptide did not show promising result as a vaccine candidate.