Chromatography in plasma fractionation: benefits and future trends.

Industrial-scale chromatographic fractionation and purification methods have been used increasingly in the last few years for plasma fractionation. This has resulted in the development of a new generation of therapeutic plasma derivatives, especially coagulation factors, protease inhibitors and anticoagulants. Implementation and combination of ion-exchange, affinity and size-exclusion chromatography have allowed the development of new therapeutic products with improved purity and safety for treating congenital or acquired plasma protein deficiencies in patients. More recently, the benefit of chromatographic purification of plasma proteins in the removal of plasma-borne viruses has been revealed. Development of packing materials with improved characteristics for industrial applications, including higher capacity and rigidity, should further promote the use of chromatography as an essential plasma fractionation tool and confine more and more the traditional ethanol precipitation methods to the final processing stages used to recover albumin.