Purification of normal lymphocytes from leukemic T-cells by lectin-affinity adsorbents – correlation with lectin-cell binding

Utilization of leukemic T-cells from normal ones, using lectin-affinity adsorbents, is described. CNBr-activated Sepharose 6MB was covalently coupled to Soybean (SBA) or Dolichos Biflorus Agglutinins (DBA), then serves as an affinity probe for separation of leukemic T-cells from normal lymphocytes. The normal lymphocytes were removed almost completely by phosphate buffered saline (Ca2+ and Mg2+ free) (PBS(−)) from lectin-affinity column. More than 80% of the leukemic T-cells were retained on the lectin-affinity adsorbent, whereas another 10–15% were easily removed by PBS(−). There was a very good linear correlation between percent of cells, retained on the lectin-affinity adsorbent and percent of cells, interacting with the respective free lectin (r=0.97 for SBA, and r=0.93 for DBA). The viability of normal lymphocytes was not influenced after passing through the columns. In the case of leukemic T-cells – about 90% of the easily removed cells were dead, and another 10% were viable cells, non-interacting with DBA or SBA.