Patent ID: 8501918

Claim:
An absorbent matrix that facilitates the depletion of soluble TNF receptors from a mammalian biological fluid in an extracorporeal system, the absorbent matrix comprising: a plurality of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) muteins comprising TNF-α mutein 4 (SEQ ID NO:6) immobilized on an extracorporeal biocompatible solid support, wherein the plurality of TNF-α muteins are covalently attached to the extracorporeal biocompatible solid support, and wherein the plurality of TNF-α muteins have a single amino acid substitution relative to an unsubstituted native TNF-α, and wherein each of the plurality of TNF-α muteins immobilized on the extracorporeal biocompatible solid support have a single binding site capable of selectively binding to one of the soluble TNF receptors with an affinity sufficient to deplete the soluble TNF receptors from the biological fluid.