Extracorporeal affinity adsorption treatments which are aimed at the substantial removal of two or more compounds that are etiological in the pathogenesis of diseases in man provide effective therapeutic intervention means for these diseases. The methods are particularly suitable for the treatment of atherosclerosis, cancer, degenerative and autoimmune diseases. Extracorporeal chelation and immunotherapy for atherosclerosis, extracorporeal chelation treatment with on-line regeneration or replacement of chelant, extracorporeal immunotherapy with antibody fragments, and extracorporeal immunoadsorption utilizing antibodies bound to Protein A are also disclosed.

Claims

I claim:

1. A method of treating atherosclerosis comprising a step of placing in an extracorporeal adsorption device at least one chelant which binds selectively with a metal ion oxidant, and a step of connecting the device in the blood circulatory system of a mammal to expose at least a portion of the blood of the mammal containing said metal ion to said chelant.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the metal ion is selected from the group consisting of copper and iron.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the adsorption device includes means for immobilizing said chelant on a matrix.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the adsorption device is a pressure assisted filtration device including at least one semipermeable membrane.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the semipermeable membrane is in the form of a hollow fiber.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the semipermeable membrane comprises a plurality of hollow fibers.

7. A method of treating atherosclerosis comprising a step of placing in an extracorporeal affinity adsorption device at least two specific affinity adsorbents, one of said specific affinity adsorbents binding selectively with a first chemical species which is etiological to atherosclerosis and a second of said specific affinity adsorbents binding selectively with a second chemical species which is etiological to atherosclerosis, and a step of connecting the device in the blood circulatory system of a mammal to expose at least a portion of the blood of the mammal containing both said chemical species to said specific affinity adsorbents.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the specific affinity adsorbents are prevented from entering the circulatory system by a semipermeable membrane.

9. An extracorporeal device for treating a disease state in a living mammal, the disease state being characterized by having a first chemical species comprising a metal ion oxidant etiological to the disease state or its symptoms and a second chemical species which is etiological to the disease state or to its symptoms, the device including means for drawing from the mammal a fluid containing the metal ion oxidant and the second chemical species, means for exposing the fluid to at least a first chelant binding means for chemically binding said metal ion oxidant in said device and to a second binding means for chemically binding said second chemical species in said device, and means for returning to the mammal at least a fraction of said fluid.

10. A method for treating a disease state in a living mammal, the disease state being characterized by having a first chemical species comprising a metal ion oxidant etiological to the disease state or its symptoms and a second chemical species which is etiological to the disease state or to its symptoms, the method comprising drawing from the mammal a fluid containing the metal ion oxidant and the second chemical species into an extracorporeal device, exposing the fluid to at least a chelant for chemically binding said first chemical species in said device, exposing the fluid to a specific affinity adsorbent for chemically binding said second chemical species in said device, and returning to the mammal at least a fraction of said fluid.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the fluid is exposed simultaneously to the chelant and the specific affinity adsorbent.

 

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