Hosmalin A, Carelli C, Gaillard J, Lefrancier P, Drobecq H, Leclerc C, Amar O, Audibert F, Chedid L
CNRS UA-579, Immunothérapie Expérimentale, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
Clin Immunol Immunopathol. 1987 Dec;45(3):447-60. doi: 10.1016/0090-1229(87)90096-1.
It was previously shown that "castration" could be obtained in male mice by immunizing them in saline with a conjugate referred to as LHRH-Lys-MDP and containing the decapeptide hypothalamic hormone LHRH covalently linked to the adjuvant glycopeptide MDP-Lys. Since coupling was made using carbodiimide, it could have produced oligomers or isomers as well as monomers. In the present investigation male and female mice were immunized in saline with a linear monomeric MDP linked LHRH molecule obtained by total synthesis. Histological studies showed gonadal alterations in both male and female mice. The study of analogs provided a correlation between the "castrative" activity of LHRH-Lys-MDP and its chemical and antigenic structures. However, because LHRH antibody levels were not very high, mechanisms other than antibody response are discussed. Such totally synthesized molecules including a safe adjuvant could make a clinical use of LHRH immunization possible in endocrine-dependent cancers.
