Affinity Chromatography of Urokinase Using Cefazoline as a Ligand

Sepharose 4B-based affinity adsorbent was prepared using cefazoline as a ligand, and epichlorohydrin as an activator. The density of the ligand in the affinity adsorbents was about 43 &mgr;mol/g wet gel. The optimal adsorption pH for urokinase was 6.0, and the optimal adsorption salt concentration was 1.0 mol/L NaCl. The optimal conditions of elution were 0.1 mol/L glycine buffer, pH 9.0, containing 0.5 mol/L NaCl. A crude urokinase with specific activity 500 u/mg protein was purified on an affinity chromatography column (1 cm x 12 cm), yielding a product of specific activity of 49 300 u/mg with 78% recovery and 98.6-fold purification.