Studies on subtype composition in natural leukocyte interferon preparations

Antisera raised against partially purified human leukocyte interferon in goat and horse were exhaustively adsorbed and purified. Affinity chromatography using these antibodies gave 10000-fold purification in one step without losing interferon activity. Then enzyme immunoassay was established with these antibodies and utilized for subtype analysis. Crude and affinity purified leukocyte interferons showed identical profiles of antiviral activity and immunoreactivity when fractionated by means of reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography. These results suggested the possibility of providing mixture of subtypes of leukocyte interferon occurring in natural host response, with comparable purity of recombinant ones.