Abstract
The purpose of this study was to compare the immune response generated by the intramuscular and the intradermal vaccination route against the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV). Piglets from a seronegative and a seropositive farm were selected (n = 28 piglets per farm), and each group was divided into two groups and vaccinated after weaning with modified live vaccine Unistrain® PRRS (Laboratorios Hipra Amer, Spain) by the intramuscular (IM) or the intradermic (ID) route. For the following 6 weeks, animals were weekly bled to assess the humoral response by PRRSV-specific antibody ELISA and viral neutralisation test. At 0-, 3-, 4- and 6 weeks post-vaccination, peripheral mononuclear blood cells (PBMC) from eight animals per group were recovered to analyse cellular response by IFN-γ ELISPOT and lymphoproliferation. Serum IL-12 was also quantified by ELISA. Seroconversion was first detected 14 days post-vaccination (dpv) for both IM and ID routes, and peaked at 35 dpv (both IM groups and ID seropositive) or 42 dpv (ID seronegative). At 3 weeks after vaccination, 6/27 (22.22%) animals from negative origin had not seroconverted, and neutralising titres were significantly lower at 35 dpv compared to the seropositive origin (mean log2 titres of 1.36 and 4.25 respectively) Also, it was 10 times more probable for them to have high levels of IL-12 a week after vaccination than for animals of seropositive origin. Cellular immune response analysed by lymphoproliferation and IFN-γ ELISPOT was already present at 21 dpv and until 42 dpv, with no significant differences between groups except for a higher lymphoproliferation at 35 dpv in the IM seropositive group (Kruskal-Wallis, p < 0.05). These results indicate that the intradermal route induces an immune response equivalent to the classical intramuscular route even in presence of non-neutralising maternal immunity, which in this study has proven to facilitate seroconversion after vaccination with an heterologous strain.