The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 24, 1997
Filed:
Mar. 26, 1993
Jurrien Dean, Bethesda, MD (US);
Abstract
The present invention relates to contraceptive vaccines based on cloned zona pellucida genes and the strategy of alloimmunization with zona pellucida polypeptides. In particular, the present invention relates to a contraceptive vaccine for use in a mammalian female comprising a polypeptide which displays at least one epitope for binding of an antibody that inhibits fertilization of an oocyte by a sperm. This epitope is from a zona pellucida protein of the species in which the said vaccine is used. This invention relates, more particularly, to such vaccines wherein the zona pellucida protein is the ZP3 protein or the mouse or homologues of the protein in some other mammalian species. Further, this invention comprehends vaccines comprising a synthetic peptide that displays an epitope for such an antibody that inhibits fertilization. In addition, this invention relates to cloned DNA segments variously encoding the mouse ZP3 protein or the human ZP3 protein.