No abstract

The extensive use of antibody-containing affinity columns in the purification of biologically active compounds (e.g., genetically engineered proteins) is severely hampered by the leaching of antibody (or portions thereof) from the immunoaffinity resin during elution of the target antigen. One of the major problems in this context is the combined use of reducing (i.e., thiols) and chaotropic (e.g., detergents and denaturants) agents in the elution step, which causes the disassociation of heavy and/or light chains from the immobilized antibody, thereby contaminating the resultant product. In order to overcome this problem, we have cross-linked the four antibody chains at their sites of disulfide interlinkage, thus producing a single antibody chain. To accomplish this, interchain disulfide bonds were reduced, and the resultant thiol groups were cross-linked by using bifunctional SH-specific reagents (particularly bismaleimides). Cross-linking of up to 95% of the available SH groups produced was achieved with concomitant retention of antigen-binding activity. The cross-linked antibody was immobilized onto CNBr-activated Sepharose, and the resultant column was found to be substantially more stable to harsh elution conditions than similar columns which contain the un-cross-linked antibody.

N,N,N',N'-Tetramethyl(succinimido) uronium tetrafluoroborate is proposed as a reagent of choice for the activation of carboxyl groups and formation of N-hydroxysuccinimide esters on polymers. Unlike conventional methods which generate unstable gels, the reaction is appropriate for hydroxy-containing resins like Sepharose, cellulose, and dextran. The yields of activation and subsequent coupling capacity for ligands and proteins are very high. The respective columns can be used for affinity chromatography and immobilization of proteins.