| Abstract: | An immunoadsorbent process has been devised for removing serum hepatitis antigen (HAA), from blood, blood plasma, and plasma products. The immunoadsorbent complexes specifically with HAA and the complex is removed from the plasma by filtration. The complex is dissociated with 0.23M NH4OH. The immunoadsorbant is regenerated for further processing, while the purified HAA by-product my be used to produce more antibody in animals. The rate of complexing is such that HAA is reduced one log cycle each 2hr. Since available tests can only detect HAA to about 109 particles per ml, it is proposed that HAA negative plasma and plasma products can be processed to reduce HAA to a probability of less than one HAA particle per plasma pool. A gibbon injected with infectious commercial Factor IX that was subjected to the immunoadsorbent process showed no sign of infection after 8 months. However 14 weeks after injection with unprocessed Factor IX, the gibbon showed signs of infection. |
