Determination of the bleomycin-inactivating enzyme in biopsies.

A method for the determination of the Bleomycin-inactivating enzyme is described. The amount of conversion of active Bleomycin to inactive Bleomycin is used as a measure for the determination of the Bleomycin-inactivating enzyme activity. The active Bleomycin is determined in a DNA-dependent DNA polymerase assay; in a certain Bleomycin concentration range the resulting reduction of the activity of the DNA-dependent DNA polymerase is correlated linearly when plotted semilogarithmically. By application of this method it has been found that the activity of the Bleomycin-inactivating enzyme is highest in liver and present in lower concentrations in testis, spleen, lung, brain, and skin.