Separation of Hepatitis-Associated Antigen (HAA) from Human Plasma for the Production of Rabbit Anti-HAA

Abstract. A method is described for obtaining hepatitis-associated antigen (HAA) from the acid citrate dextrose plasma of routine blood donations found to be HAA-positive. The separation consisted of the following steps: ammonium sulphate precipitation, absorption on and elution from DEAE-Sephadex, and gel filtration on a Sepharose-6B column. HAA was demonstrated by cross-over immuno-electrophoresis and lines of identity shown by the Ouchterlony double diffusion technique. Freedom from contaminating protein was shown by immuno-electrophoresis. This material, when injected into rabbits, produced an anti-HAA reagent suitable for use cross-over immuno-electrophoresis without absorption.