Purification and characterization of a lysosomal form and a variant form of β-glucuronidase from the rat basophil leukaemia tumour

Two isoenzyme of beta-glucuronidase from a rat basophil leukaemia tumour were co-purified 4067-fold by (NH4)2SO4 precipitation and sequential chromatography on concanavalin A–Sepharose, Sephadex G-200, DEAE-cellulose, CM-cellulose and phosphocellulose. The purity of the mixture was established by the coincidence of the peaks of enzyme activity and protein at a molecular weight of 300 000 on Bio-Gel P-300, the presence of only two protein bands, both of them enzymically active, in polyacrylamide gels after electrophoresis under non-denaturing conditions, and the presence of a single subunit species, of mol.wt. 75 000, after electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gels under a denaturing conditioning. The major isoenzyme co-migrated with the L form from rat liver during electrophoresis in alkaline polyacrylamide gels, whereas the minor isoenzyme migrated more rapidly than either the lysosomal form or the rat liver microsomal form and was designated the tumour (T) isoenzyme. A mixture of the purified isoenzymes from two preparations had an average specific activity of 1389 units/mg for phenolphthalein beta-D-glycopyranosiduronic acid. The L and T isoenzymes, which had pI5.9 and 5.7 respectively, could be obtained free of cross-contamination by isoelectric focusing and had similar specific activities. Although the T isoenzyme could be a catabolic product of the M or the L form, it could also be a unique tumour product, because it was not detected in extracts of normal rat tissues.