[Effect of ceruloplasmin conformation on its activity: significance for clinical analysis]

Conformational properties of ceruloplasmin were studied immediately in blood serum of healthy volunteers, patients with tuberculosis, with pulmonary cancer, with pneumonia and with Wilson-Konovalov disease. The glycoprotein conformation was found to depend on the volunteer physiological state and/or available pathology. The ceruloplasmin conformation and status of its copper-containing sites of the I type affected the enzyme oxidase properties and hence routine colorimetric procedures require some corrections for estimation of ceruloplasmin concentration and activity in blood serum.