Method of obtaining urokinase

Abstract

A method of obtaining urokinase directly from human urine comprising contacting human urine with an acrylonitrile polymer of a unique porous structure formed at the time of polymerization for formation of the polymer and having a porosity of not less than 10% and a specific surface area of .Iadd.not less than .Iaddend.5 m 2 /g. and subsequently eluting the urokinase adsorbed on the polymer. The acrylonitrile polymer employed in the method of the present invention has an excellent adsorption activity to urokinase and therefore, with use of an extremely small amount of the adsorbent, the satisfactory results can be obtained. Moreover, the porous polymer of the present method can also be utilized for purification of low purity crude urokinase obtained by the prior art methods.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of obtaining urokinase from human urine comprising contacting human urine with an acrylonitrile polymer of a porous structure having a porosity of not less than 10% and a specific surface area of .Iadd.not less than .Iaddend. 5 m 2  /g. to adsorb urokinase onto said acrylonitrile polymer, said porous structure having been formed at the time of polymerization for formation of the polymer, and subsequently eluting the urokinase from said acrylonitrile polymer having the urokinase adsorbed thereon. 
     
     
       2. A method according to claim 1 wherein said acrylonitrile polymer is a homopolymer or a copolymer of acrylonitrile. 
     
     
       3. A method according to claim 2 wherein said polymer is a copolymer and contains at least 30% by weight of acrylonitrile based on the copolymer of acrylonitrile. 
     
     
       4. A method according to claim 1 wherein said porosity is 10 to 50%. 
     
     
       5. A method according to claim 1 wherein said specific surface area is 5 to 100 m 2  /g. 
     
     
       6. A method according to claim 1 wherein said acrylonitrile polymer is one obtained by solution polymerization, suspension polymerization or emulsion polymerization of a corresponding monomer in a liquid medium selected from the group consisting of water, an alcohol, a hydrocarbon, an ester, a nitrile and mixtures thereof, said monomer and said liquid medium being employed in an amount ratio of 1:2 to 1:10. 
     
     
       7. A method according to claim 6 wherein said liquid medium is an aqueous system containing at least 50% by volume of water. 
     
     
       8. A method according to claim 1 wherein said acrylonitrile polymer is in the form of an aqueous slurry or a powder. 
     
     
       9. A method according to claim 1 wherein said acrylonitrile polymer is in the form of a coating on a support. 
     
     
       10. A method according to claim 1 wherein said acrylonitrile polymer is in the form as coagulated. 
     
     
       11. A method according to claim 1 wherein said acrylonitrile polymer is employed in an amount of 0.1 to 0.3 g. per liter of the human urine. 
     
     
       12. A method according to claim 1 wherein the eluting is effected using an aqueous alkali solution. 
     
     
       13. A method according to claim 12 wherein said aqueous alkali solution is an aqueous solution of a member selected from the group consisting of ammonia, an amine and sodium hydroxide.