Preparation and composition of inter-alpha inhibitor proteins from blood

1. A composition comprising 85% to 100% inter-alpha inhibitor proteins (IαIps) by weight, wherein the composition is suitable for administration to a human, and wherein the IαIps are characterized as having increased binding to an anti-IαIp antibody selected from the group consisting of MAb 69.26 and MAb 69.31 in a competitive Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) compared to IαIps not exposed to a wash buffer having a pH of 4.0 or lower.

2. A pharmaceutical composition comprising the composition of claim 1 and a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient.

3. A method for treating disease or disease symptoms in a subject, wherein the disease is selected from the group consisting of sepsis, severe shock, septic shock, and trauma/injury, comprising administering to the subject the composition of claim 1 .

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the subject is identified as in need of treatment with a composition comprising IαIps.

5. A kit comprising the composition of claim 1 and instructions for therapeutic use or analytical use.

6. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the labs IαIps exhibit increased binding in the competitive ELISA of greater than 1-, 1.5-, 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, or 10-fold compared to the IαIps not exposed to a wash buffer having a pH of 4.0 or lower.

7. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the IαIps are from blood, blood plasma, or a blood plasma fraction.

8. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the IαIps have an apparent molecular weight of between about 60 to about 280 kDa.

9. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the IαIps have biological activity.

10. The composition of claim 9 , wherein the biological activity is a cytokine inhibitor activity, chemokine inhibitor activity, or a serine protease inhibitor activity.

11. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the IαIps comprise inter-alpha inhibitor (lap and pre-alpha inhibitor (PαI) in physiological proportions.

12. The composition of claim 11 , wherein the IαI comprises between about 60% to about 80% of the IαIps in the composition and/or wherein the PαI comprises between about 20% to about 40% of the IαIps in the composition.

13. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the composition is formulated to provide a dose of the IαIps to a subject of 1 mg/kg body weight to 5,000 mg/kg body weight.

14. The composition of claim 13 , wherein the composition is formulated to provide a dose of the IαIps to a subject of 1 mg/kg body weight to 10 mg/kg body weight.

15. The composition of claim 14 , wherein the subject is a human.

16. The composition of claim 1 , further comprising a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient.

17. The composition of claim 16 , wherein the composition is formulated for oral, rectal, topical, intraocular, buccal, intravaginal, intracisternal, intracerebroventricular, intrathecal, nasal, transdermal, subcutaneous, intramuscular, or intraperitoneal administration, for infusion, or for application within or onto an implant.

18. The composition of claim 17 , wherein the composition further comprises cellulose.