Immunological Approaches to Contraception and Promotion of Fertility

ISBN-13: 9781468451429 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 442 str.

Gursaran Talwar

Opis

Contraceptive research has entered the new age of vaccines. Realistic prospects exist for the development of an entirely new battery of vaccines for use in human and veterinary medicine. Among them may be anti-fertility vaccines, based on physiological mechanisms applicable to either the female or male. This volume is a comprehensive review - a status report - of the subjects including fundamental work on the search for useful epitopes and ranging to applied vaccinology. One vaccine to prevent pregnancy, for use by women, has already been studied extensively. G.P. Talwar, the volume's editor and his colleagues in New Oelhi, India, published in 1976 a landmark series of papers describing the immunological properties of a preparation consisting of the alum-precipitated beta-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) chemically linked to tetanus toxoid. The principle of enhancing antigenicity of a self-protein by linkage of the epitope to a carrier protein was employed and tested clinically. These trials, carried out under the auspices of the Indian Council for Medical Research, were the first application of the carrier protein concept for a vaccine for human use. The encouraging results stimulated a wave of research not only on the use of hCG-based vaccines, but on other antigens as well.

Spis treści

Inaugural Remarks.- Inaugural Remarks.- Whence the Anti Hormones.- Immunological Approaches to Contraception: The Need, Basic Premise, and Overview.- Lack of Toxicological Effects Following Seven Years of Active Immunization of Rhesus Monkeys with the ?-Subunit of Ovine Luteinizing Hormone.- Reaction of a Chimpanzee to Immunization with oLH?.- Improved Immunogenic Formulations for Antigonadotropin Response.- A Fertility Regulating Vaccine Based on the Carboxyl-Terminal Peptide of the Beta Subunit of Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin.- Enhancement of Antibody Response to an Antigonadotropin Vaccine by Use of Adjuvants.- Rational Vaccine Design: Opportunities Offered by Molecular Genetics.- Cloning and Expression of Biologically Active Human Fertility Hormones.- Cloning and Expression of Lutropin Genes.- Development of oFSH as a Vaccine for the Male — A Status Report on the Recent Researches Carried Out Using the Bonnet Monkey (M. Radiata).- Immunization Against FSH as a Method of Male Contraception.- Effects of Active Immunization with Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) on Spermatogenesis in the Adult Crab Eating Monkey — Evaluation for Male Contraception.- LHRH Immunoneutralization: Basic Studies and Prospects for Practical Application.- Immunization Against LHRH Without the Use of Freund’s Complete Adjuvant.- Sperm Antigens, Immunologic Infertility and Contraception.- Transformation of the Nucleus During Mammalian Spermatogenesis and. Fertilization: Implications for Contraceptive Development.- Sperm Antigens Related to Infertility.- Toward the Development of an Anti-Sperm Contraceptive Vaccine.- Contraceptive Effect of Two Anti-Sperm Monoclonal Antibodies, Administered Singly and in Combination, in the Mouse.- Monoclonal Antibodies Against Human Sperm.- The Potential Effectiveness and Safety of Second Generation Vaccines.- Factors Affecting the Generation and Contraceptive Effectiveness of Immune Responses to Sperm.- Immunosuppression of Fertility by LDH-C4.- Characterization of an Antisperm Monoclonal Antibody Inducing Human Sperm Agglutination.- Molecular Genetics of the Mouse Zona Pellucida: Implications for Fertilization and Early Development.- Species Variation in the Zona Pellucida.- Immunohistological Studies During Immunization of Primates with Porcine Zona Pellucida: Preliminary Observations.- Antigenic Profile and Impact of Immunization with Zona Pellucida Antigens in Primates.- Effect of Immunization of Primates Against Porcine Zonae on Fertility and Hormone Profiles.- Prospects for Control of Fertility in the Female Dog by Active Immunization with Porcine Zona Pellucida Proteins.- Anti-GnRH Monoclonals: Pituitary and Extrapituitary Actions in Control of Fertility.- Purification of Human Gamete Antigenes Relevant to Antibody Production: Application of Monoclonal Antibodies.- Characteristics of Anti-Zona Monoclonal Antibodies.- Aggressive and Protective Immunological Reactions of the Pregnant Mother to the Conceptus.- Effects of Antibodies to Steroid Hormones on Reproductive Events of Sheep and Cattle.- The Relationship of Egg Production in the Chicken to Its Major Histocompatibility Complex.- Bovine Embryo: Development, Cloning, Sexing and Transfer of Genes.- Pregnancy Outcome in Human Couples with Idiopathic Recurrent Abortions: The Role(s) of Female Serum, Mixed Lymphocyte Culture Blocking Factors, Potentiating Factors, and Local Uterine Immunity Before and After Paternal Leukocyte Immunization.- Immunostimulation and the Promotion of Fertility.- Histocompatibility and Reproduction.- Valediction Immunocontraception — From Romance to Reality.