Acid phosphatase isoenzymes in Gaucher's disease.

Acid phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.2) isoenzyme profiles of extracts of splenic tissue and serum from patients with Gaucher's disease were measured by a mini-column ion-exchange chromatographic method [Clin. Chem., 23, 000 (1977)]. Diagnosis of Gaucher's disease in the five patients studied was confirmed by demonstrating decreased (2.3 to 4.1% of normal) glucocerebrosidase activity in the spleen. With p-nitrophenyl phosphate as substrate, increased acid phosphatase activity (three-to eight-fold normal) was demonstrated in spleen tissue from Gaucher;s disease patients; isoenzyme profiles by the ion-exchange column technique showed acid phosphatase isoenzyme 5 to be the predominant isoenzyme. Comparison of acid phosphatase isoenzyme profiles from patients with Gaucher's disease and prostatic carcinoma revealed distinct differences in the activities of isoenzymes 2 and 5. The isoenzyme-5 measurement thus appears to provide a diagnostic test for Gaucher's disease that can be done reapidly and easily in the routine clinical chemistry laboratory.