[Paraneoplastic subacute sensory Denny-Brown neuronopathy or anti-Hu syndrome: a classical paraneoplastic syndrome].

Paraneoplastic syndromes, or the remote non metastatic effects of cancer, are wellknown entities that may affect any organ or tissue in the body, including the central nervous system. Some have been shown to be associated with autoantibodies against the nervous system. One typical example ist the subacute sensory neuronopathy of Denny-Brown, classically associated with small cell lung cancer. These patients present with the subacute onset of a sensory neuronopathy which may appear as much as one year before the primary tumour is detected. An antibody called anti-Hu has been found in the serum in these patients, which recognizes a neuronal protein called Hu (M.W. 30 to 40 kD). This antibody can currently be detected by a combination of immunological methods such as Western blot analysis or immunohistochemistry.