Method of conferring a protective immune response to norovirus
The present invention relates to vaccine compositions comprising Norovirus antigens and adjuvants, in particular, mixtures of monovalent VLPs and mixtures of multivalent VLPs, and to methods of conferring protective immunity to Norovirus infections in a human subject.
1. A method of eliciting protective immunity to a Norovirus infection in a human comprising administering to the human a vaccine comprising at least two Norovirus virus-like particles (VLPs), wherein the at least two VLPs represent different Norovirus genotypes, wherein at least one Norovirus VLP is present in the vaccine in a dose amount of from about 1 ug to about 200 ug, and wherein the vaccine is able to elicit immunity against each Norovirus genotype represented in the vaccine.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the at least two Norovirus VLPs are present in the vaccine in a dose amount of from about 1 μg to about 200 μg.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the genotypes of the Norovirus VLPs represented in the vaccine are selected from the group consisting of Norovirus genogroup I and genogroup II viral strains.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the Norovirus VLPs are monovalent VLPs.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the Norovirus VLPs are multivalent VLPs.
6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the Norovirus VLPs are monovalent VLPs representing different genogroups.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the Norovirus VLPs comprise Norwalk virus VLPs and Houston virus VLPs.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the vaccine further comprises an adjuvant that is not a bacterially-derived exotoxin.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the adjuvant is selected from the group consisting of toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists, monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL), synthetic lipid A, lipid A mimetics or analogs, aluminum salts, cytokines, saponins, muramyl dipeptide (MDP) derivatives, CpG oligos, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of gram-negative bacteria, polyphosphazenes, emulsions, virosomes, cochleates, poly(lactide-co-glycolides) (PLG) microparticles, poloxamer particles, microparticles, and liposomes.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the adjuvant is a toll-like receptor (TLR) agonist.
11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the adjuvant is MPL.
12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the adjuvant is aluminum hydroxide.
13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the adjuvant comprises MPL and aluminum hydroxide.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the vaccine is in a powder formulation.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the vaccine is in a liquid formulation.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the vaccine is administered to the human by a route selected from the group consisting of mucosal, intranasal, intramuscular, intravenous, subcutaneous, intradermal, subdermal, and transdermal routes of administration.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the vaccine is administered intranasally.
18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the vaccine is administered to one or both nostrils.
19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the vaccine is administered intramuscularly.
20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the vaccine confers protection from one or more symptoms of Norovirus infection.