Human seminal ribonuclease. Immunological quantitation of cross-reactive enzymes in serum, urine and seminal plasma.

The distribution of secretory-type ribonuclease in human serum, urine and seminal plasma has been studied by immunological measurements. Inhibition of enzyme activity by antibodies against pure human seminal RNAase shows that a cross-reactive enzyme is predominant (90%) in seminal plasma and is a significant component (70-80%) in urine and serum. A competitive binding radioimmunoassay has been developed by using specific antibodies and 125I-labelled RNAase as radioligand. The procedure, very sensitive, reproducible and specific, has been used to determine seminal RNAase levels in seminal plasma samples from 48 healthy individuals (age range, 20-58 years). The mean concentration of the enzyme was found to be 6.6 micrograms/ml (S.D. +/- 1.9).