Application of thiophilic membranes for the purification of monoclonal antibodies from cell culture media.

Institute of Enzymetechnology, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Jülich, Germany.

The application of thiophilic membranes for the purification of monoclonal antibodies from hybridoma culture media was studied. Affinity filtrations were performed with membrane stacks and also in a cross flow module with a spiral filtration channel. Purification factors up to five and concentration factors of about eight could be achieved. The flux behaviour was analysed and interpreted according to existing models of filtration. The results were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. The binding capacity of the membranes differed considerably with the mode of operation. The main component responsible for membrane fouling was identified by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and amino acid sequence analysis as bovine serum albumin or its fragments.

PMID: 7757242 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]