[The use of various fluorogenic substrates for determining peptide hydrolase activity of the blood serum]

4-methoxy-beta-naphthylamide and 7-amino-4-methyl coumarin, derivatives of Z-Ala-Arg-Arg, Leu- and Gly-Phe-beta-naphthylamides were used as substrates in estimation of peptide hydrolases activity in blood serum of patients with malignant tumors and glomerulonephritis in order to ascertain their efficiency for diagnostic purposes in clinic. Each of the fluorogenic substrates studied was hydrolyzed by various peptide hydrolases from blood serum both under normal and pathological conditions: metallopeptidases, cysteine- and serine-dependent peptide hydrolases. The rate of Z-Ala-Arg-Arg-MNA hydrolysis was decreased in lung, kidney and ileum cancer as well as in glomerulonephritis as compared with normal state. The "alkaline-resistant" cysteine-dependent cathepsin B-like proteinase, hydrolyzing this peptide, was not detected in blood serum neither in normal state nor in these diseases studied. Leu-NA and Gly-Phe-NA were hydrolyzed most effectively in blood serum of patients with lung cancer and glomerulonephritis as compared with normal state; cysteine-dependent peptide hydrolases were most markedly activated. Alterations in the enzymatic activity, detected in blood serum, did not exhibit any specificity for definite diseases, they were observed both in malignant and inflammatory impairments. The data obtained suggest that the fluorogenic substrates studied could not be suitable for clinico-diagnostic purposes.