Subject(s)
Adrenal Cortex Hormones/therapeutic use , Antifungal Agents/therapeutic use , Dermatitis, Seborrheic/therapy , Enzyme Inhibitors/therapeutic use , Keratolytic Agents/therapeutic use , Phototherapy , Administration, Cutaneous , Brain Injuries, Traumatic/epidemiology , Calcineurin Inhibitors , Dermatitis, Seborrheic/epidemiology , Dermatitis, Seborrheic/immunology , Dermatomycoses/epidemiology , Diet , Facial Dermatoses , Humans , Imidazoles/therapeutic use , Malassezia , Organometallic Compounds/therapeutic use , Parkinson Disease/epidemiology , Pyridines/therapeutic use , Risk Factors , Scalp Dermatoses , Selenium Compounds/therapeutic use , Spinal Cord Injuries/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Relatively molecular mass of GnRH antigens is small and hence needs to couple to a large carrier molecule to enhance its immunogenicity. This study investigated whether hepatitis B surface antigen S (HBsAg-S) gene can be used as an effective carrier molecule for developing GnRH DNA immunocastration vaccine. Two copies of human GnRH gene were fused with HBsAg-S gene for constructing a recombinant plasmid pVAX-HBsAg-S-2GnRH that coded for 27 kDa target fusion protein. Ten male mice were divided into two equal groups, treatment and control. The vaccine (50 µg/mice) prepared in saline solution was injected into male mice at weeks 0, 1, 2, 4 and 7 of the experiment. Vaccine's efficacy was evaluated in terms of GnRH-specific IgG antibody response, plasma testosterone levels, testicular weight and extent of the testicular tissue damage. The specific anti-GnRH antibody titre in vaccinated animals was significantly higher than in controls in only 4th week of immunization (p < 0.05). In addition, vaccinated animals showed lower testicular weight than those of the controls (p < 0.05). Spermatogenesis in seminiferous tubules in vaccinated animals was suppressed. In conclusion, in this study, the engineered plasmid to be used as a GnRH DNA vaccine induced antibody response and suppressed spermatogenesis in mice. This suggests that HBsAg-S gene can be an effective carrier molecule for developing GnRH DNA immunocastration vaccine when relatively molecular mass of the aimed antigens is small.