Serum Inhibitors of Elastase, Trypsin, and Plasmin in Chronic Rheumatic Diseases

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Abstract
[logn dash]The activity of inhibitors of the elastolytic and proteolytic functions of elastase, as well as of the proteolytic functions of trypsin and plasmin, were determined in sera of healthy subjects and patients with rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. A considerable increase in the inhibitors was found in the patients with rheumatic disease. In cases of ankylosing spondylitis, the levels of inhibitors of both the functions of elastase and of the proteolytic function of trypsin were markedly higher than in cases of rheumatoid arthritis. In both groups of patients, the inhibitor activity of the proteolytic function of plasmin was raised to about the same level. There is probably a simultaneous formation and accumulation of all the inhibitors tested in cases of chronic rheumatic disease. The possible role of proteolysis in the pathogene-sis of rheumatic diseases is discussed.