Inventors:
William I. Bensinger - Seattle WA
Assignee:
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center - Seattle WA
International Classification:
A61M 103
Abstract:
A method and apparatus are disclosed for treating a patient by removing immunoreactive substances from the patient's blood using microbial ligands such as Staphylococcus Protein A. The method of the present invention comprises removing blood from the patient, separating the removed blood into plasma and cellular components, passing the plasma component through an immunoadsorbent material to produce a treated plasma component, and returning the treated plasma component and the cellular component to the patient. The immunoadsorbent material comprises a microbial ligand such as Staphylococcus Protein A, or components thereof, covalently bonded to an inert and nondegradable support. The removing, separating, passing and returning steps are performed substantially continuously and simultaneously with one another. The immunoadsorbent material may comprise one to three milligrams of the microbial ligand for each gram of support, and about 20-40 ml of the plasma component may be passed through the immunoadsorbent material per minute. In one preferred embodiment, the immunoadsorbent material comprises Staphylococcus Protein A, or components thereof, that have been covalently bonded to a silica support by first coating the silica support with an alkylamine and then coupling Staphylococcus Protein A to the alkylamine by means of a carbodiimide.