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Development of genetically engineered human sperm immunocontraceptives.

¹Reproductive Immunology and Molecular Biology Laboratories, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The West Virginia University, School of Medicine, Morgantown, WV 26506-9186, USA. Rnaz@hsc.wvu.edu

Journal of Reproductive Immunology

|October 27, 2009

Summary

Developing novel anti-sperm contraceptive vaccines and engineered antibodies offers a promising path toward reversible immunocontraception. These approaches aim to overcome individual immune response variability for effective fertility control.

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Published on: March 1, 2019

Area of Science:

Reproductive immunology
Biotechnology
Vaccinology

Background:

Sperm-targeting contraceptive vaccines are a developing area of reproductive health.
Existing methods face challenges due to host immune response variability.

Purpose of the Study:

To review anti-sperm contraceptive vaccines and genetically engineered human antibodies for immunocontraception.
To explore novel single chain variable fragment (scFv) antibodies and multi-epitope vaccines.

Main Methods:

Review of vaccinology and antibody engineering techniques.
Synthesis of multi-epitope contraceptive vaccines using sperm antigens, peptide epitopes, or DNA.
Development of novel scFv antibodies using phage display technology from immunoinfertile and vasectomized men.

Main Results:

Multi-epitope contraceptive vaccines demonstrated reversible contraceptive effects in mouse models.
Novel scFv antibodies were synthesized in vitro, reacting with specific sperm antigens.
These antibodies inhibit human sperm function in vitro.

Conclusions:

Engineered human scFv antibodies show potential as novel, first-in-kind immunocontraceptives for human use.
Multi-epitope vaccines and preformed antibodies may mitigate concerns about immune response variability.
Further in vivo investigation is needed to confirm the efficacy of these human scFv antibodies.