An easy and simple separation method for Fc and Fab fragments from chicken immunoglobulin Y (IgY)

Antigen-binding (Fab) and crystallizable (Fc) fragments are the active components of yolk immunoglobulin (IgY), which have been widely used in the pharmaceutical field. However, the common purification methods for the Fab and Fc fragments use combinations of multi-columns are complex and time-consuming. The objective of this study was to improve the separation efficiency of the Fab and Fc fragments from the hydrolyzed IgY and increase the purity of the isolated Fab and Fc fragments. Natural IgY was hydrolyzed using papain for 6 hr and then treated with 45% saturated ammonium sulfate to remove small molecular-weight-peptides. The fraction containing Fab and Fc fragments was loaded on a DEAE-Sepharose ion exchange column and the Fab fraction was washed out first with 10 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 7.6). Then, the Fc fraction bound to the DEAE Sepharose was eluted with 10 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 7.6) containing 0.21 M NaCl. The purity of the two fragments was 88.7% and 90.1%, respectively. The results of Western blotting and MS analyses indicated that this method purified Fab and Fc fractions with high purity. This method is easy and simple compared with other methods, and the active fragments separated can be easily used.