Partial purification and chemical characterization of macrophage cytotoxicity factor (MCF, MAF) and its separation from migration inhibitory factor (MIF)

Macrophage cytotoxicity factor (MCF) was purified in 3 consecutive steps including adsorption chromatography on Matrex Gel Red A, hydrophobic chromatography on phenylalanine-Sepharose, and isoelectric focusing. MCF was characterized as a protein with a m.w. of approximately 30,000 by gel filtration on Sephadex G-100 with 2 isoelectric points at 7.4 and 8.4 in the presence of urea. The unpurified supernatant was fairly stable provided that manipulations favoring adsorption to membrane materials used for dialysis or ultrafiltration were omitted. The partially purified preparation was highly unstable. Trypsin treatment did not affect MCF activity, whereas chymotrypsin destroyed it. Treatment with glycosidases and neuraminidase or cultivation of cells in the presence of 2-deoxy-D-glucose or tunicamycin did not impair the MCF activity. MCF was separated from migration inhibitory factor (MIF) by 2 methods: first, isoelectric focusing in the presence of urea, and second by gel filtration on Ultrogel. MCF could be separated from interferon by chromatography on poly(I)-Sepharose.