A THIOL PROTEINASE HIGHLY ELEVATED IN AND AROUND THE PLAQUES OF MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS.: SOME BIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS OF PLAQUE ACTIVITY AND PROGRESSION

— A thiol dependent proteolytic enzyme (tentatively identified as carboxypeptidase B) which liberates phenylalanine from CBZ-glutamyl-phenylalanine at pH 5.3 was shown, by a sensitive micromethod, to be greatly increased in activity in and around MS plaques. These increases exceeded those of other hydrolases previously measured. Plaque tissue, on the basis of lipid-free dry weight, is up to 3-fold richer in this enzyme than control white matter, and most samples of apparently uninvolved MS white matter already show elevated activities. The enzyme is highly dependent on the presence of dithiothreitol. It is unaffected by diisopropyl fluorophosphate and pepstatin, but inhibited by iodoacetate and leupeptin. Macrophages or lymphocytic infiltrations in the tissue do not appear to be the main source of the enzyme. In conjunction with measurements of DNA, reflecting gliosis, invasion by hematogenom cells and proliferation of phagocytes as well as oligodendrocyte loss, and acid lipase-esterase, indicative of the survival or degeneration of oligodendrocytes, these results are interpreted as probably reflecting predominantly the activity of astrocytes. The incidental finding that most samples of unaffected white matter from MS patients contain more DNA per unit lipid free dry weight than average control white matter is considered significant in pointing to more widespread tissue changes independent of or preceding plaque formation.