Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, 30 Gaotanyan Street, Shapingba District, Chongqing 400038, PR China.
Vaccine. 2010 Feb 17;28(7):1847-53. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2009.11.080. Epub 2009 Dec 14.
To lay a foundation for the further development of a novel contraceptive vaccine based on epididymal protease inhibitor (Eppin) protein, possible B-cell epitopes were predicted using bioinformatics. Overlapping KLH-coupled peptides corresponding to the 89-133 amino acid domain of Eppin protein were synthesized by the Fmoc method. The male mice were immunized with various peptides resulting in a gradual elevation of specific serum IgG antibodies until they peaked at the seventh week. Treatment with antiserum in immunized mice caused a significant decrease in the sperm-egg binding rate. Eventually, antifertility assays in vivo showed that, the pregnancy rate and the number of births per labor in experimental mice were significantly decreased. The decrease in the F5 and the F4 groups were more outstanding therefore these peptides might be the dominant functional fragments of Eppin protein and provide an experimental basis for the development of effective contraceptive vaccine based on Eppin protein.
为了为基于附睾蛋白酶抑制剂（Eppin）蛋白的新型避孕疫苗的进一步发展奠定基础，使用生物信息学预测了可能的 B 细胞表位。采用 Fmoc 法合成了与 Eppin 蛋白 89-133 个氨基酸域相对应的重叠 KLH 偶联肽。雄性小鼠用各种肽进行免疫，导致特异性血清 IgG 抗体逐渐升高，直到第 7 周达到峰值。用抗血清处理免疫小鼠导致精子-卵结合率显著下降。最终，体内抗生育试验表明，实验组小鼠的妊娠率和每胎产仔数明显下降。F5 和 F4 组的下降更为显著，因此这些肽可能是 Eppin 蛋白的主要功能片段，为基于 Eppin 蛋白的有效避孕疫苗的开发提供了实验依据。
