PROCESS FOR PRODUCING HUMAN INTERFERON AND METHOD FOR ASSAYING THE INTERFERON PRODUCTIVITY OF BLOOD

A process for producing HuIFN using whole human blood and a method for assaying the blood HuIFN productivity are disclosed. The whole blood is incubated in the presence of an anticoagulant (e.g. heparin, ACD, and CPD) and a viral inducer under the conditions appropriate to accumulate a substantial amount of HuIFN. The blood HuIFN productivity determined by titrating the accumulated HuIFN with a suitable procedure (bioassay, radioimmunoassay, or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) is useful in clinical test to detect cancer in its early stage. The HuIFN per se is recovered, and purified prior to its prophylactic and therapeutic uses.