Serum protein electrophoretic pattern and angiotensin-converting enzyme in sarcoidosis

S-angiotensin-converting enzyme (SACE), s-protein electrophoretic pattern and ESR were examined in 61 patients with sarcoidosis. Among 46 patients with active disease there was a significant elevation of ESR, alpha 2-globulin, and gamma-globulin, but the deviations from healthy controls were generally small and the pattern was unspecific, without correlation to clinical or roentgenographic features. Elevation of SACE was confined to active sarcoidosis, in which group elevation was noted in 59% of the patients. SACE was positively correlated to total protein and gamma-globulin. This correlation may not be causal but rather an expression of two different cellular activities in the disease, involving the macrophage-system and the B-lymphocytes, respectively.