Partial Purification of Human Interferon by Affinity Chromatography

In this article, Anfinsen, et al, reported the use of affinity chromatography to purify human leukocyte and fibroblast interferons. By using affinity chromatography, they achieved a significant degree of purification of these interferons, but due to an insufficient supply of starting material, a homogeneous preparation of neither interferon was obtained. Although this study was only partially successful, until this point, efforts to purify interferon to homogeneity, which had tremendous antiviral implications, had resulted mostly in frustration. Only later would true purification be achieved.