Progress immunocontraceptive vaccines nonsurgical sterilization cats dogs

in Reproduction in Domestic Animals Vol 47, a Special Issue Proceedings of the 17th International Congress on Animal Reproduction (ICAR) - August 2012

Munks, M. (2012), Progress in Development of Immunocontraceptive Vaccines for Permanent Non-surgical Sterilization of Cats and Dogs. Reproduction in Domestic Animals, 47: 223–227. doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0531.2012.02079.x

Contents
Introduction
Self-tolerance and Adjuvants
Reproductive Targets
Immune Mechanisms
Acknowledgements
Conflicts of interest
References

Each year, millions of cats and dogs are euthanized worldwide. There are insufficient resources to control shelter animals in developed countries, as well as feral cat and wild dog population levels, with current surgical sterilization techniques. Thus, population control of these animals will likely depend on the development of new non-surgical methods for cat and dog sterilization. One promising area of research is the development of contraceptive vaccines, or immunocontraceptives. In this article, previous approaches aimed at developing contraceptive vaccines will be reviewed, with a focus on those most related to sterilization of cats and dogs. There are a number of steps in reproduction that have been, or could be, targeted by the immune system, and the advantages and obstacles for inducing immunity to each of these will be discussed. Our current understanding of how these vaccines cause sterility, and our current ability to dissect these mechanisms in cats and dogs, also will be discussed.


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see previous related Feral Cat Blog! posts:

Alliance for Contraception in Cats and Dogs (ACCD)

nonsurgical sterilization

immunocontraception

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