The Norwalk and Norwalk-like human caliciviruses are important etiologic agents of epidemic nonbacterial gastroenteritis. A major research obstacle in the study of these viruses has been our inability to grow them in cell culture. The primary goal of this project is to characterize viral genetic determinants that are responsible for the antigenic diversity and epidemiologic importance of these human pathogens. Baculovirus-expressed self-assembled virus-like particles (VLPs) from the Desert Shield virus (DS395), Toronto virus (TV24), and Hawaii virus (HV) were used to develop diagnostic assays and serologic reagents to examine antigenic relationships among these and other calicivirus reference strains. Relationships established with these recombinant DNA-based assays should provide a framework for the development of a provisional human calicivirus serotypic classification system until neutralization assays are available. In addition, recombinant calicivirus proteins are being used to study basic biological features of the virus.
