Oonk H B, Turkstra J A, Schaaper W M, Erkens J H, Schuitemaker-de Weerd M H, van Nes A, Verheijden J H, Meloen R H
Department of Molecular Recognition ID-DLO Institute for Animal Science and Health, Lelystad, The Netherlands.
Vaccine. 1998 Jul;16(11-12):1074-82. doi: 10.1016/s0264-410x(98)80101-1.
Castration of male pigs is routinely performed in order to prevent the occurrence of boar taint in pig carcasses. However, boar taint can also be eliminated by immunological castration using a synthetic peptide vaccine against GnRH. For pig farming, to make immunocastration a feasible alternative method to surgical castration, the composition of the vaccine has to be not only reliable and effective but also cost-efficient and safe. Previously the authors have developed an effective immunocastration vaccine by replacing the monomer GnRH by a much more immunogenic tandem peptide. However, this tandem-GnRH vaccine preparation needs Complete Freund's adjuvant and to be applied at a relatively high dose. Therefore, alternative antigens were designed to cope with this problem and tested with different adjuvants and dosages. An effective new antigen was designed based on a GnRH-tandem peptide, which was dimerized and modified in one amino acid position of the decapeptide to allow conjugation of this tandem-dimer to ovalbumin. In mild adjuvants and in low dosage, this antigen was very effective in reducing testis weight, serum LH and androstenone level in backfat. Thus, an improved immunocastration vaccine has been designed that is relatively cost-efficient and highly efficacious in two vaccinations at low dose.
对公猪进行阉割是常规操作，目的是防止猪胴体出现公猪异味。然而，也可以通过使用抗促性腺激素释放激素（GnRH）的合成肽疫苗进行免疫阉割来消除公猪异味。对于养猪业来说，要使免疫阉割成为手术阉割的一种可行替代方法，疫苗的成分不仅必须可靠有效，而且还要具有成本效益且安全。此前，作者通过用免疫原性更强的串联肽替代单体GnRH，开发出了一种有效的免疫阉割疫苗。然而，这种串联GnRH疫苗制剂需要弗氏完全佐剂，且需以相对高的剂量使用。因此，设计了替代抗原以解决这一问题，并对不同佐剂和剂量进行了测试。基于GnRH串联肽设计了一种有效的新抗原，该串联肽在十肽的一个氨基酸位置进行了二聚化和修饰，以使这种串联二聚体能够与卵清蛋白偶联。在温和佐剂和低剂量情况下，这种抗原在降低睾丸重量、血清促黄体生成素（LH）和背膘中雄烯酮水平方面非常有效。因此，已经设计出一种改进的免疫阉割疫苗，该疫苗相对具有成本效益，并且在低剂量两次接种时高效。
