Male contraception

A method of treating a human male subject by administering to the subject a pharmaceutical composition comprising:

• a) a source of an immunogenic polypeptide comprising at least one of a class I MHC- and a class II MHC-restricted epitope being a portion of the amino acid sequence of a human Zona Pellucida protein (hZP) selected from hZP1, hZP2, hZP3, and hZP4, represented by SEQ ID NO:
• 1, SEQ ID NO:
• 2, SEQ ID NO:
• 3, and SEQ ID NO:
• 4, respectively;
• b) a T cell comprising a T cell receptor that binds an MHC-peptide complex, wherein the peptide is a peptide from the amino acid sequence of an hZP selected from hZP1, hZP2, hZP3, and hZP4, represented by SEQ ID NO:
• 1, SEQ ID NO:
• 2, SEQ ID NO:
• 3, and SEQ ID NO:
• 4, respectively;
• or,
• c) an antibody or fragment thereof that specifically binds to hZP selected from hZP1, hZP2, hZP3, and hZP4, represented by SEQ ID NO:
• 1, SEQ ID NO:
• 2, SEQ ID NO:
• 3, and SEQ ID NO:
• 4, wherein preferably, the hZP protein is hZP3 represented by SEQ ID NO:
• 3;
• wherein the method is a contraceptive method, a method of reducing male fertility, a method of inducing male infertility, a method of inhibiting spermatogenesis, a method of inducing aspermia, a method of inducing azoospermia, a method of reducing sperm count, a method of inducing a state of severe oligospermia, a method of reducing Motile Total (MOT), a method of reducing total motile sperm (TMS) and/or a method of reducing semen volume.