OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of immunization with an anti-LH-releasing hormone (LH-RH) vaccine in postmenopausal women. DESIGN: Pilot clinical study. SETTING: Normal human volunteers in a medical research-training environment. PATIENT(S): Three postmenopausal women with a mean age of 60 years, 5 years of amenorrhea, and severe hypoestrogenism with elevated serum LH and FSH. INTERVENTION(S): Intramuscular immunization with 300 micrograms LH-RH equivalent of the vaccine in two occasions 1 month apart. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Patients were followed for clinical assessment and serum LH, FSH, and anti-LH-RH titers at regular monthly intervals for 7 months. RESULTS(S): The injection of the anti-LH-RH vaccine followed by a booster injection 1 month later resulted in a sharp decrease, 60 days after the first injection, of both serum gonadotropins, accompanied by an increase in anti-LH-RH antibody titers, which were reversible after 180 days in the absence of further booster immunization. CONCLUSION(S): Active immunization offer a safe option to induce antibody response, which in the present regime employed was of about 6-months duration. This procedure opens new possibilities for its use as an affordable therapeutic agent in some hormone-dependent clinical conditions.
OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of immunization with an anti-LH-releasing hormone (LH-RH) vaccine in postmenopausal women. DESIGN: Pilot clinical study. SETTING: Normal human volunteers in a medical research-training environment. PATIENT(S): Three postmenopausal women with a mean age of 60 years, 5 years of amenorrhea, and severe hypoestrogenism with elevated serum LH and FSH. INTERVENTION(S): Intramuscular immunization with 300 micrograms LH-RH equivalent of the vaccine in two occasions 1 month apart. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Patients were followed for clinical assessment and serum LH, FSH, and anti-LH-RH titers at regular monthly intervals for 7 months. RESULTS(S): The injection of the anti-LH-RH vaccine followed by a booster injection 1 month later resulted in a sharp decrease, 60 days after the first injection, of both serum gonadotropins, accompanied by an increase in anti-LH-RH antibody titers, which were reversible after 180 days in the absence of further booster immunization. CONCLUSION(S): Active immunization offer a safe option to induce antibody response, which in the present regime employed was of about 6-months duration. This procedure opens new possibilities for its use as an affordable therapeutic agent in some hormone-dependent clinical conditions.