Vaccines for immunological control of fertility
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REVIEW ARTICLE
Vaccines for immunological control of fertility Satish K. Gupta • Pankaj Bansal
Received: 31 October 2009 / Accepted: 6 November 2009 / Published online: 1 December 2009 Ó Japan Society for Reproductive Medicine 2009
Abstract Vaccines have been proposed as one of the strategies for population control. Immunocontraceptive vaccines can be designed to inhibit: (1) production of gametes (sperm and egg); (2) functions of gametes, leading to blocking of fertilization; and (3) gamete outcome (pregnancy). Immunization with gonadotropin-releasing hormone coupled to different carriers has shown curtailment in the production of sperm with concomitant infertility in various species. Immunization of nonhuman primates and men with ovine follicle stimulating hormone has also resulted in reduced sperm output. Various spermatozoaspecific proteins such as FA1, PH-20, LDH-C4, SP-10, SP-17, sp56, SPAG9, and Izumo have been proposed as candidate antigens to develop contraceptive vaccines, which have shown efficacy in inhibiting fertility in different animal models. Immunization with zona pellucida glycoproteinsbased immunogens also results in curtailment of fertility in a variety of species. However, ways to overcome the observed oophoritis associated with zona proteins immunization have yet to be discovered, a necessary step before their proposal for control of human population. Nonetheless, this is a very promising approach to control wildlife animal population. Phase II clinical trials of b-human chorionic gonadotropinbased vaccine in women have established the proof of principle that it is possible to inhibit fertility without any untoward side-effects by vaccination. Further scientific inputs are required to increase the efficacy of contraceptive vaccines and establish their safety beyond doubt, before they can become applicable for control of fertility in humans.
S. K. Gupta (&) P. Bansal Reproductive Cell Biology Laboratory, National Institute of Immunology, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110067, India e-mail: [email protected]
Keywords Fertilization Hormones Immunocontraception Spermatozoa Vaccine Zona pellucida
Introduction The increasing human population is an important driving anthropogenic factor, among others, responsible for increased atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The impact = population 9 affluence 9 technology (IPAT) model suggests that increasing population and economic growth in the coming decades will exacerbate GHGs [1], which may produce disruptive changes in global climate, putting our existence on Earth at stake. Hence, there is an urgent need for commensurate efforts to stabilize human population at a sustainable level. It is estimated that, by 2020, about 1.2 billion people, or 16% of the world’s population, will be entering their child-bearing years. Furthermore, 90% of those entering reproductive age will be in the developing world, where there is a particularly pressing need for new contraceptives that are cheap, safe, reliable, convenient, reversible,
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