[Changes in beta-glucuronidase activity in the blood cells and blood serum of patients with rheumatism in relation to clinical manifestations of the disease].

The authors examined 22 patients with rheumatic fever in whose cells (neutrophils, mononuclear cells, thrombocytes) and in the blood serum they noted the activity of lysosomal enzyme of beta-glucuronidase (BGU) and the concentration of protein in the cells of the peripheral blood. The activity of the enzyme and concentration of protein in neutrophils of mononuclear cells was found to be decreased. Differences in determining the activity of BGU in the blood serum in relation to the clinical manifestations of the disease were also established. A significant rise in the activity of BGU in the blood serum as compared to the norm was observed in patients with a protracted course of rheumatic fever, with the I degree of the process activity, circulatory disorders and complicated cardiac failures. There was a clearly seen direct relationship between the activity of BGU in the blood serum and the level of circulating immune complexes, and an indirect relationship between the mentioned enzyme and alpha 2-globulin. A decrease in the activity of BGU in the cells was caused by degranulation of neutrophils and monocytes induced by immunological factors. A decrease in the level of BGU in the cells of patients with rheumatic fever apparently influences the processes of phagocytosis and aggravates immunological disorders, and, consequently, is connected with the disease pathogenesis. Determination of the BGU activity in the blood serum can be used for detection of the minimum activity of the inflammatory process in a chronic course of rheumatic fever.