Development of Immunocontraceptives in Male

Abstract

AbstractThe currently applicable two forms of male contraception are condoms and the vasectomies. Despite ongoing efforts to develop male contraceptive options, to date, highly effective and reversible male contraceptive methods are not available.Some sperm antigens, which have been regarded as useful in the development of contraceptive vaccines on the female side, are also expected to be contraceptive vaccines on the male side. Besides them, there are also some proteins identified for male contraception, which we will introduce here. These proteins play important biological roles, such as sperm motility and various processes at fertilization. A variety of sperm-specific proteins have been identified, and the characteristics of these proteins and their efficacy to inhibit fertility have been investigated in suitable animal models.So far, however, no contraceptive vaccine based on sperm-specific proteins has gone through preclinical safety evaluation in animal models and thus not entered into the clinical trials in humans. Further scientific inputs and rigorous investigations are required to propose a candidate contraceptive vaccine based on sperm-specific antigens for human use.