Process for producing interferon inducers
AssigneeThe Kitasato Institute
InventorsYasuhiko Kojima, Sadao Tamamura, Seishi Konno, Takashi Hashimoto
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Abstract
An interferon inducer is produced by extracting a tissue of a plant belonging to the Gound family selected from the group consisting of Benincasa, Cucurbita, Citrullus, Cucumia, Lagenaria, Luffa, Mormordica, Tricsanthes and their variants by water extraction at a temperature of from ambient to the boiling point of the extraction mixture, forming a supernatant from the extracted solution, fractionating the supernatant to yield fractions containing the interferon inducer and recovering same.
Claims27
A process for producing water-soluble interferon inducer, which comprises extracting with water the tissue of a plant belonging to the Gourd family and selected from the genera group consisting of Benincasa, Cucurbita, Citrullus, Cucumis, Lagenaria, Luffa, Mormordica, Tricosanthes and their variants capable of producing the said interferon inducer, at a temperature of from ambient to the boiling point of the extraction mixture, conducting the extraction for a period sufficient to extract the major portion of the said interferon inducer present in the said tissue, forming a supernatant from the extracted solution thus obtained, fractionating the supernatant to yield fractions containing the major portion of the said interferon inducer present in the supernatant, and recovering said interferon inducer therefrom.
A process for isolating a water-soluble high molecular weight fraction having a molecular weight range of from about 50,000 to about 1,000,000 active as an interferon inducer, which comprises extracting with water a plant belonging to the Gourd family selected from the group consisting of Benincasa, Cucurbita, Citrullus, Cucumis, Lagenaria, Luffa, Mormordica, and Tricosanthes and their interferon inducer-producing variants, said water being at a temperature of from ambient to the boiling point of the extraction mixture, conducting said extraction for a period sufficient to extract a major portion of said interferon inducer present in the plant tissue, forming a supernatant from the extracted solution, subjecting the said supernatant to ultrafiltration by using an ultrafiltration membrane capable of fractionating substances having a molecular weight of more than 50,000 thereby recovering said interferon inducer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.