Specific Adsorption of Semliki Forest Virus on a Disulphide-linked Immunosorbent Derived from Rabbit Antibody

Abstract

Immunosorbents derived from antibody either by attachment to an insoluble matrix (Gallop et al. 1966) or by polymerization (Stephen, Gallop & Smith, 1966; Chidlow, Stephen & Smith, 1967; Avrameas & Ternynck, 1967) have been used to separate proteins from mixtures, but their application to the purification of viruses from host products and from heterologous viruses has so far been limited to acid-stable plant viruses (Galvez, 1966). This communication describes experiments indicating that disulphide-linked immunosorbents (Stephen, Gallop & Smith, 1966) can be used to separate animal viruses from cellular material by specific adsorption and subsequent desorption. Semliki Forest virus was chosen for these studies because arboviruses appear to be particularly difficult to separate from contaminants of host origin, it is easy to manipulate and assay and a hyperimmune rabbit antiserum was already available.