Summary
A 53-year-old man with an aggressive T-cell lymphoma was found at autopsy to have severe cerebellar degeneration, presumably as a ‘remote’ effect of malignancy. The degree of cerebellar atrophy was unusually pronounced and widespread, involving both Purkinje cell and granule cell layers, although patches of preserved and essentially normal cerebellar cortex were identified. This case is of particular interest in view of data which indicate that cerebellar Purkinje cells and T-lymphocytes share antigenic surface markers.
References
Ang LC, Zochodne DW, Ebers GS, Kaufmann JCE, Vinters HV (1985) Severe cerebellar atrophy in a patient with T-cell immunoblastic sarcoma. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 44:334
Brain L, Wilkinson M (1965) Subactute cerebellar degeneration associated with neoplasms. Brain 88:465–478
Durack DT, Sumi SM, Klebanoff SJ (1979) Neurotoxicity of human eosinophils. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 76:1443–1447
Garson JA, Beverly PCL, Coakham HB, Harper EI (1982) Monoclonal antibodies against human T-lymphocytes label Purkinje neurons of many species. Nature 298:375–377
Greenlee JE, Brashear HR (1983) Antibodies to cerebellar Purkinje cells in patients with paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration and ovarian carcinoma. Ann Neurol 14: 609–613
Henson RA, Urich H (1982) Cancer and the nervous system. Blackwell, Oxford London Edinburgh
Horwich L, Buxton PH, Ryan GMS (1966) Cerebellar degeneration with Hodgkin's disease. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 29:45–51
Jaeckle KA, Houghton AN, Nielsen SL, Posner JB (1983) Demonstration of serum anti-Purkinje antibody in paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration and preliminary antigenic characterization. Ann Neurol 14:111
Kaplan RS, Wiernik PH (1982) Neurotoxicity of anti-neoplastic drugs. Semin Oncol 9:103–130
Millefiorini M, Antonini G, Cortesani F, Mazzocco M, Spagnoli LG, Neri L, Palladini G (1980) Cerebellar paraneoplastic degeneration. Neuropathological and biological observations. Acta Neurol (Napoli) 35:23–30
Paone JF, Jeyasingham K (1980) Remission of cerebellar dysfunction after pneumonectomy for bronchogenic carcinoma. N Engl J Med 302:156
Rewcastle NB (1963) Subacute cerebellar degeneration with Hodgkin's disease. Arch Neurol 9:407–413
Satoyoshi E, Kowa H, Fukunaga N (1973) Subacute cerebellar degeneration and Eaton-Lambert syndrome with bronchogenic carcinoma. A case report. Neurology (NY) 23:764–768
Shapiro WR (1976) Remote effects of neoplasm on the central nervous system: encephalopathy. In: Thompson RA, Green JR (eds) Advances in neurology, vol 15. Raven Press, New York, pp 101–117
Takahashi K, Isøbe T, Ohtsuki Y, Sonobe H, Yamaguchi H, Akagi T (1985) S-100 protein positive human T-lymphocyte. Am J Clin Pathol 83:69–72
Trotter JL, Hendin BA, Osterland CK (1976) Cerebellar degeneration with Hodgkin disease. An immunological study. Arch Neurol 33:660–661
Vick N, Schulman S, Dau P (1969) Carcinomatous cerebellar degeneration, encephalomyelitis, and sensory neuropathy (radiculitis). Neurology (NY) 19:425–441
Winkelman MD, Hines JD (1983) Cerebellar degeneration caused by high-dose cytosine arabinoside: a clinicopathological study. Ann Neurol 14:520–527
Yamada M, Okeda R, Chen W, Nito H, Hatakeyama S, Tsukagoshi H (1985) Cortical cerebellar degeneration with testicular neoplasm. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 66:170–172
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ang, L.C., Zochodne, D.W., Ebers, G.C. et al. Severe cerebellar degeneration in a patient with T-cell lymphoma. Acta Neuropathol 69, 171–175 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00687056
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00687056