Efficient purification and preconcentration of erythropoietin in human urine by reusable immunoaffinity column

In this paper, an efficient method is proposed for purification and preconcentration of erythropoietin (EPO) in human urine samples. The EPO-specific immunoaffinity column (IAC) was generated by covalent immobilization of anti-EPO polyclonal antibodies on Sepharose 4B support. The EPO-binding capacity of the IAC was found to be about 2.0 μg (6.6 IU) per 1.5 mL of gel and the activity recoveries of EPO at low concentrations of 7.8, 10 and 120 mIU/mL by the IAC were between 78 and 86%. Substantial cleanup effect was observed when the IAC was applied to human urine samples.