Research progress on vaccines and therapeutic drugs for human norovirus

Norovirus (NoV) is one of the leading pathogens causing epidemic acute gastroenteritis affecting people of all ages. There is currently no effective treatment or prevention for diseases caused by NoV. It is necessary to develop preventive strategies (including vaccines) for susceptible populations and mass infections. Virus-like particle formed by NoV capsid protein VP1 and the protruding (P) domain of VP1 has become the main vaccine development focus. Vaccine candidates produced by bioengineering technologies have been expressed in different expressing systems and some proven to be immunogenic in clinical trials. Combined vaccines of NoV and other enteric pathogens such as rotavirus also appear to be promising. This article discusses NoV vaccines in pre-clinical and clinical researches as well as clinical drugs for NoV-associated disease. Key words: Norovirus; Virus-like particle; Vaccines; Drugs, investigational