title: Nasal immunization using a mimovirus vaccine based on the Eppin B-cell epitope induced suppressed fertility in mice.
abstract: To elicit potent humoral immunity and produce adequate neutralizing antibody especially in the genital tract and eventually to promote its immunogenicity, we designed an Eppin B-cell-dominant-epitope-based mimovirus vaccine with an RGD motif which can be nasally inoculated into male mice. Our results indicate that this immune strategy successfully generated a high antibody response with significantly higher anti-Eppin IgA in the genital tract, and eventually achieve significant inhibition of fertility without any interference with testis function and alteration in structural integrity. The fertility rate of the females mating with the vaccinated males declined and the progeny size was greatly reduced, but the contraceptive efficacy was still far from that of immunocontraceptives for human use. However, the research showed a new contraceptive vaccine construction and inoculation avenue, that is, mimovirus vaccine delivered nasally. Further investigation geared toward improving fertility inhibition efficacy using this inoculation strategy still remains to be explored.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Southwest hospital; Third Military Medical University; Chongqing, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhengqiong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zigang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Jintao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Zhiqing
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liang
mesh_terms: D000281:Administration, Intranasal; D000818:Animals; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000008:administration & dosage; D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility / Q000276:immunology*; D007070:Immunoglobulin A / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D053491:Proteinase Inhibitory Proteins, Secretory; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D022642:Vaccines, Contraceptive / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D014780:Viruses / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004337:Drug Carriers; D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte; D007070:Immunoglobulin A; D053491:Proteinase Inhibitory Proteins, Secretory; D011506:Proteins; D022642:Vaccines, Contraceptive; C477828:eppin protein, mouse
keywords: contraceptive vaccine; epididymal protease inhibitor; immunocontraception; nasal immunization