Trophinin, trophinin-assisting proteins and methods to inhibit implantation

Abstract

The present invention provides a method to prevent pregnancy in an individual by administering a trophinin vaccine, which can elicit an immune response in the individual administered the vaccine. The method utilizes mammalian trophinin and peptides derived thereof from human or mice. The method also utilizes a nucleic acid molecule encoding trophinin as the trophinin vaccine, which is expressed in the individual administered the vaccine. The nucleic acid molecule can further encode a trophinin-assisting protein that can be co-expressed with trophinin in the individual administered the vaccine. The invention also provides a method to prevent adhesion between a trophoblast cell and a uterine epithelial cell by administering a trophinin vaccine or peptides thereof. The invention further provides an adjuvant or a carrier protein to enhance the immune response to the trophinin vaccine. The invention also provides mammalian trophinin active fragments, antibodies to the fragments, nucleic acid molecules encoding the fragments and nucleic acid probes that can hybridize to the nucleic acid molecules.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.