Patent ID: 8729242

Claim:
A method of reducing the T-cell mitogenicity of a chemically modified lectin composition by affinity chromatography wherein the affinity chromatography is performed using beads in solution, wherein the method comprises: (a) providing a mitogenic lectin composition that includes a plurality of mitogenic lectins and reacting the mitogenic lectin composition with one or more chemical compounds to produce a chemically modified lectin composition; (b) contacting a chemically modified lectin composition with an immobilized ligand on the beads under conditions that allow at least a portion of the composition to bind the ligand; (c) exposing the bound portion of the chemically modified lectin composition to glucose at a first concentration; (d) exposing the remaining bound portion of the chemically modified lectin composition after step (c) to glucose at a second higher concentration; and (e) recovering the portion of the chemically modified lectin composition that is released at the second higher glucose concentration, wherein the T-cell mitogenicity of the recovered portion of the chemically modified lectin composition is less than the T-cell mitogenicity of the original chemically modified lectin composition.