Isolation and purification of rat mammary tumor peroxidase.

7,12-Dimethylbenz(a)anthracene-induced rat mammary tumors often contain high levels of the enzyme perioxidase, a putative marker of estrogen dependence. This enzyme can be effectively extracted with 0.5 M CaCl2, giving rise to a soluble peroxidase with a molecular weight of about 50,000 as determined by gel filtration. This is the same size as the estrogen-induced peroxidase of rat uterus but smaller than other mammalian peroxidases. Further purification of the rat mammary tumor peroxidase by concanavalin A-Sepharose chromatography and hydrophobic interaction chromatography on phenyl Sepharose provides a 640-fold purification of the enzyme.