IgG purification by negative chromatography in amine-based ligands: A comparison of l-lysine and poly-l-lysine

Peptide-crosslinked molecularly imprinted polymers for efficient separation of immunoglobulin G from human serum

Low-cost and highly effective methods are highly desirable to replace the costly ethanol fractionation and affinity chromatography in IgG isolation from human plasma. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) of IgG are potential candidates, however, they still suffer from severe problems such as difficult template removal and low imprinting efficiency. Here, a recently developed strategy was adopted to overcome these problems. The MIPs were synthesized using poly(L-glutamic acid) (PLGA) peptide crosslinkers instead of commonly used crosslinkers, such as N,N-methylenebisacrylamide (BIS). Because of the pH-induced helix-coil transition and the precise folding of the peptide segments in the polymers, the imprint cavities can be enlarged by adjusting the pH from 5.0 to 7.0, but their original size and shape are restored when the pH is adjusted back. Therefore, the IgG template can be eluted completely under mild conditions, and significantly improved imprinting efficiency can be achieved. Compared with BIS-crosslinked MIP, 8.6 times more binding sites can be created by molecular imprinting PLGA-crosslinked MIP. The factors influencing the performance of the MIP were studied systematically. An optimized MIP with a high adsorption capacity (612.5 mg g^-1), high IF (4.92), and high selectivity was obtained. The adsorption capacity and selectivity of the MIP are much higher than the previously reported IgG MIPs. Because of its high adsorption capacity and selectivity, it can separate IgG from human serum effectively, affording high purity products.

IgG purification using affinity filtration with sulfamethazine-affinity carriers

Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies are used extensively for analytical, diagnostic, and therapeutic applications. However, there are some disadvantages to purify IgG antibodies by protein A and G affinity chromatography. Therefore, it is necessary to find an effective alternative and nonchromatographic method to purify IgG. Dextran microparticles were activated and coupled with sulfamethazine to form sulfamethazine-affinity carriers. Then the carriers were used to purify IgG by affinity filtration. Quantitative and qualitative determination proved that sulfamethazine would successfully bond to the surface of dextran microparticles with a density of 85.5 μmol/g (wet). Affinity carriers were proved to withstand high shear force and reveal rare sulfamethazine leakage under filtration conditions between pH 3 to 11. The maximum IgG-binding capacity of affinity carriers was 8.03 mg IgG/g (wet). The affinity filtration process obtained a recovery yield above 80% and purity above 90%. Thus, this work involved in both the advantages of membrane filtration and affinity purification. The results, for the first time, proved that it is possible to use the small ligand sulfamethazine for affinity filtration of IgG. It is an attractive alternative to conventional protein A or G affinity chromatography.