Microporous microparticles designed as stable immunoadsorbents.

We have developed a solid-phase immunoadsorbent based on encapsulated goat anti-apolipoprotein B polyclonal antibodies previously crosslinked with a 0.25% glutaraldehyde solution, and designed to remove by immunoaffinity the excess of apolipoproteins B from the plasma of patients affected by familial hypercholesterolemia. Compared to a classical immunoadsorbent prepared by activation of Sepharose CL-4B with cyanogen bromide, the resulting immunoadsorbent exhibits both optimal adsorption capacity and stability over the entire range of chemical and biochemical conditions during its practical handling. This approach will serve as a model system to demonstrate the applicability of microparticles as immunoadsorbents, which can be achieved for other encapsulated crosslinked proteins.