Studies on the purification and stability of human antihaemophilic factor (factor 8).

Abstract

In 1957, Kekwick and Wolf described the preparation and preliminary clinical testing of a concentrate of human antihaemophilic factor (Factor VIII), which was obtained from fresh normal human plasma by a modification of the fractionation scheme devised by Kekwick and Mackay (1954). Almost simultaneously a similar preparation was obtained by a modification of the Cohn fractionation procedure (Blombäck and Blombäck, 1956) and was tested clinically (Blombäck and Nilson, 1958).The development of an assay of greater precision than that used by Kekwick and Wolf (Pool and Robinson, 1959; Kekwick and Walton, 1964) has made it possible to examine factors affecting the stability of Factor VIII, to define more critically the conditions leading to an optimal recovery of Factor VIII from human plasma, and to explore steps for its further purification.The primary object of the work was to obtain preparations of greater potency for clinical use by procedures leading to a high recovery of activity and readily adaptable to fractionation on a large scale under aseptic conditions.