Serum haptoglobin dynamics in pigs vaccinated or not vaccinated against porcine circovirus type 2

The present work describes the serum haptoglobin (Hp) dynamics in piglets vaccinated and non-vaccinated with a commercial porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) vaccine at 3 weeks of age, and its relationship with the average daily weight gain (ADWG). The field study was carried out on two farms (A and B) with a previous clinical history of PCV2-systemic disease (PCV2-SD). The aim of the study was to assess whether Hp could be used as a surrogate marker of PCV2 vaccine efficacy. PCV2 infection was confirmed by quantitative real time PCR (qPCR) in pigs from both farms, but PCV2-SD was only diagnosed in farm A. No statistically significant relation was found between serum Hp concentration and the percentage of qPCR positive animals and the treatment applied (PCV2 vaccination) in both farms. On the other hand, using linear regression analysis, a significant negative correlation between the area under the curve of Hp (AUC(Hp)) and ADWG was observed for farm A (p < 0.00001) and B (p = 0.01). Based on the obtained determination coefficient (R-2) values, AUCHp explained 20.0 and 11.6% of the observed ADWG for farms A and B, respectively. The present study supports that the measurement of acute phase proteins may be an indicator of ADWG in pig farms, but it was not apparently feasible to use the serum Hp concentration as a surrogate marker of PCV2 vaccine efficacy.