Zona Pellucida Chimeric Peptide Vaccine

Abstract

Immunization with the zona pellucida (ZP) antigens elicits antibodies that confer anti-fertility effect, but also a CD4 T cell response that induces autoimmune ovarian disease. The complication of antoimmune ovarian disease induction has been overcome by the use of the chimeric peptide (CP) ZP vaccine. The CP is composed of a linear native B cell epitope of ZP3 or ZP2 in tandem with a foreign T cell epitope, and it induces antibody response to ZP without a concomitant T cell response to the ZP antigen. In this study, we describe our experience in the design of ZP CP vaccine, summarize the structure and immune responses to the CP with the murine and primate ZP3 and ZP2 B cell epitopes, and demonstrate the anti-fertility effect of CP vaccination. The result suggests that the multiple subunit CP vaccine design will likely lead to the formulation of a safe and effective ZP vaccine.p