Objective: To evaluate the antifertile effect of anti-idiotypic antibodies to PZP.
Methods: The New Zealand rabbits were immunized by 17D3 monoclonal antibody against PZP to produce anti-idiotypic antibodies (Ab2) which were then purified by immuno-affinity chromatography.
Results: The mice immunized with Ab2 showed decrease of pregnancy rate and a statistically significant reduction in the number of embryos as compared to controls (P < 0.05). Histological examination of ovaries showed that Ab2 interferes only with late follicular development.
Conclusions: Ab2 to 17D3mAb could alleviate ovarian damage and suppress partial fertility. Clearly, further research is required to screen epitope of inner image of Ab2 and to express it by gene engineering.