A protein activator of galactosylceramide beta-galactosidase.

A heat-stable protein was isolated from the spleen of a patient with Gaucher's disease. This protein will activate glucosylceramide beta-glucosidase activity (Ho, M.W. and O'Brien, J.S. (1971) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 68, 2810-2813). When the specificity of this activator was tested using other enzymes and substrates, it was found to activate galactosylceramide beta-galactosidase activity and sphingomyelinase but not GM1 beta-galactosidase or sulfatide sulfatase. The ability to stimulate galactosylceramide beta-galactosidase was optimum at pH 4.6 in the presence of pure phosphatidylserine or other acidic lipids such as sulfatide and phosphatidylinositol. The partially purified activator protein could stimulate galactosylceramide beta-galactosidase activity in brain, liver, leukocytes and cultured fibroblasts. It was not able to stimulate the activity of this enzyme in tissue samples from patients with Krabbe's disease, demonstrating that it was acting on galactosylceramide beta-galactosidase and not GM1 beta-galactosidase. It was slowly denatured by treatment with Pronase, reaching 16% of starting levels after 24 h at 50 degrees C. Attempts to separate the abilities of this activator preparation to stimulate several lysosomal hydrolases by column chromatography were not successful.