Abstract: In order to compare the sensitivity to classical swine fever virus E2 protein targeting dendritic cell vaccine between rabbits and BALB/c mice, we firstly inoculated rabbits and BALB/c mice with glycosylated E2 protein and E2 protein (2 mg in rabbits and 20 μg in mice) according to the body weight percentage of rabbits and BALB/c mice. The IgG levels in the serum were determined by ELISA method in different time. The results showed that the BALB/c mice generated mild immune response only, and the rabbits had a strong and lasting immune protection. Secondly, the research on inoculation ammount in BALB/c mice were explored further. The results indicated that the immune effects were obviously better after inoculation with 100 or 50 μg than that of 20 μg inoculation amount. The IgG level in serum was high and stable after the BALB/c mice inoculated with 50 μg glycosylated E2 protein. However, the mice emerged immune suppression in initial stage after inoculation with 100 μg glycosylated E2 protein, and the IgG level increased to high level on 21 d. Surprisingly, the IgG level was low and only slightly fluctuated after the mice inoculated with 100 μg E2 protein. The above results proved that the sensitivity of rabbits was significantly higher than that of BALB/c mice to the glycosyated E2 protein and E2 protein. Furthermore, the immune effect of glycosylated E2 protein was better than that of E2 protein, and the best inoculation dose was 50 μg in BALB/c mice.

Key words: rabbits; BALB/c mice; classical swine fever virus; E2 protein; dendritic cell vaccine; sensitivity