Identification of dominant epitopes of synthetic immunocontraceptive vaccines that induce antibodies in dogs

Abstract

The specificities of immunoglobulin G antibodies obtained from the sera of dogs inoculated with totally synthetic immunocontraceptive vaccine candidates based on luteinising hormone releasing hormone (LHRH: amino acid sequence HWSYGLRPG) were examined using peptides expressed in a phage display library. The three vaccine candidates each contained a different T helper-cell epitope chemically linked with the same LHRH amino acid sequence HWSYGLRPG and all of them elicited high antibody titres against the hormone. Delineation of epitopes recognised by sera from vaccinated dogs using a phage display library indicated that two of the three vaccine candidates induced antibody directed to the conse..