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Production of a factor activating leucocyte procollagenase by tissue culture of rheumatoid synovium was shown. The activator was isolated, partly purified, and shown to be thermolabile, nondialysable, and had no activity toward casein, haemoglobin, histones, and PZ-peptide. The activity of the activator was partly decreased by trypsin. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

1. An activator catalysing specifically conversion of latent forms of human leucocyte collagenase and gelatin-specific protease into the active forms, has been isolated from rheumatoid synovial fluid and purified 55-fold with a yield of 16%. 2. Molecular weight of the activator is about 35 000. 3. The activator is thermolabile, and is irreversibly inactivated at pH below 5.5 or in the presence of low concentrations of trypsin or papain; it is resistant to the action of lysozyme, hyaluronidase, diisopropylfluorophosphate, soybean trypsin inhibitor, p-chloromercuribenzoate, iodoacetamide and dithiothreitol. 4. The activator did not show any activity towards collagen, gelatin, casein, haemoglobin, histones, elastin or p-phenylazobenzyloxycarbonyl-peptide.