title: Evaluation of anti-norovirus IgY from egg yolk of chickens immunized with norovirus P particles.
abstract: Noroviruses (NoVs) are a leading cause of epidemic acute gastroenteritis affecting millions of people worldwide. Understanding of NoV remains limited due to the lack of a cell culture system and small animal models. Currently, there are no effective vaccines or antivirals against NoVs. In this study, an approach for large-scale production of anti-NoV antibodies for use as a potential treatment for NoV disease using passive immunization was evaluated. NoV-specific immunoglobulins (IgYs) were produced by immunizing chickens with NoV P particles. The birds continuously produced high titers of antibodies in their eggs for at least 3months, in which NoV-specific antibody levels reached 4.7-9.2mg/egg yolk. The egg yolk antibodies strongly reacted with NoV P particles by both ELISA and Western blot and blocked NoV virus-like particle (VLP) and P particle binding to the histo-blood group antigen (HBGA) receptors with a BT(50) of about 1:800. The blocking activity of the chicken IgY remained after an incubation at 70°C for 30min or treatments at pH 4-9 for 3h. These data suggested that chicken IgY could be a practical strategy for large-scale production of anti-NoV antibodies for potential use as passive immunization against NoV infection, as well as for diagnostic purposes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Zip code 510515, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Ying-Chun
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Yun-Yun
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xu-Fu
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Xian-Bo
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nie
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing / Q000032:analysis; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002645:Chickens; D004530:Egg Yolk / Q000276:immunology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006801:Humans; D007136:Immunoglobulins / Q000032:analysis*; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D029322:Norovirus / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing; D000914:Antibodies, Viral; C016512:IgY; D007136:Immunoglobulins