Antibody titre of immune response against carrier following third injection of native horse serum IgG (hsIgG) or hsIgG conjugated to mannosamine–biotin (hsIgG–MBA) into mice pre-immunized with hsIgG or hsIgG–MBA. Mice were immunized three times with hsIgG or hsIgG–MBA. Antibody titres were determined as the reciprocal value of the twofold serial dilution end-point (twice the negative control OD value) of the serum as tested by ELISA (n = 6). Symbol values represent antibody mean titres (±SD). Black circle: hsIgG–MBA, all three injections; black triangle: hsIgG, all three injections; inverted, white triangle: third injection, hsIgG–MBA following two injections of hsIgG; white circle: third injection, hsIgG following two injections of hsIgG–MBA. *P < 0.05 and ***P < 0.001 for the differences between antibody titre levels against hsIgG and antibody titre levels against hsIgG–MBA at the same time-point.