Immunoperoxidase labelling of rat brain sections with sera from patients with paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration and systemic neoplasia.

Sera from patients with systemic cancer found by immunofluorescence staining to have antibodies to human cerebellar cell populations were reacted with vibratome sections of rat cerebellum and examined by peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) methods. Seven patients with clinically or pathologically confirmed paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration and two neurologically normal patients with high titers of anticerebellar antibodies were studied. Sera from all antibody-positive patients, but not from controls, produced intense staining of brain sections. Sera from patients with ovarian adenocarcinoma reacted predominantly with Purkinje cells and neurons within brainstem nuclei. Sera from patients with oat cell carcinoma and one patient with ductal carcinoma of the breast produced nuclear and cytoplasmic staining of neurons throughout the central nervous system. Serum from a patient with Hodgkin's disease labeled the peripheries of Purkinje cells and Golgi II cells. Serum from a patient with mixed mesodermal sarcoma of the ovary labeled Purkinje cells, basket cells, and scattered astrocytes. Staining of extraneural tissues was not observed. This study confirms the presence of antineural antibodies in patients with systemic neoplasia with and without paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration and suggests that the antigens recognized by this antibody response may vary with the associated neoplasm.