Antibody purification from human plasma by metal‐chelated affinity membranes

The aim of this study is to investigate in detail the feasibility of poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate‐ N ‐methacryloyl‐( L )‐histidine methyl ester), PHEMAH membranes for purification of immunoglobulin G (IgG) from human plasma. PHEMAH membranes were prepared by photo‐polymerization technique. Then, Zn 2+ , Ni 2+ , Co 2+ , and Cu 2+ ions were chelated directly on the PHEMAH membranes. Elemental analysis assay was performed to determine the nitrogen content and polymerized MAH was calculated as 168.5 μmol/g. The nonspecific IgG adsorption onto the plain PHEMA membranes was negligible (about 0.25 mg/mL). A remarkable increase in the IgG adsorption capacities were achieved from human plasma with PHEMAH membranes (up to 68.4 mg/mL). Further increase was observed with the metal‐chelated PHEMAH membranes (up to 118 mg/mL). The metal‐chelate affinity membranes allowed the one‐step separation of IgG from human plasma. The binding range of metal ions for surface histidines from human plasma followed the order: Cu 2+ > Ni 2+ > Zn 2+ > Co 2+ . Adsorbed IgG was eluted using 250 m M EDTA with a purity of 94.1%. IgG molecules could be repeatedly adsorbed and eluted with the metal‐chelated PHEMAH membranes without noticeable loss in their IgG adsorption capacity. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012