Purkinje cells in paraneoplastic diseases

Specific forms of immunoreactivity of Purkinje cells have been discovered in human paraneoplastic conditions. Subacute cortical cerebellar degeneration in man may be associated with several types of carcinoma (see Vecht et al., 1991 for review). It has been most frequently observed in association with ovarian or endometrial carcinoma, but it also occurs as a rare sequal of small-celled bronchial carcinoma. It is generally characterized by a diffuse or patchy loss of Purkinje cells granule cells also can be affected (Brain et al., 1951 McDonald, 1961 Brain and Wilkinson, 1965 Schmid and Riede, 1974 Steven et al., 1982). 

Other forms of immunoreactivity, with different cerebellar epitopes and a different localization of the immunoreactivity have been described (Tanaka et al., 1986 Smith et al., 1988 Rodriguez et al., 1988 Tsukamoto et al., 1989 Szabo et al., 1991). Differences in the localization of the immunoreactivity and in the characterization of the epitopes may be due to the use of rat cerebellum instead of human cerebellum in testing the sera by Tanaka et al. (1986), Smith et al., (1988) and Tsukamoto et al. (1989). Szabo 

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