Anti-Purkinje cell antibody producing B-cell lines from a patient with paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration

Two patients with paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration with anti-Purkinje cell antibodies are described. Using an avidin-biotin peroxidase complex method, serum anti-Purkinje cell antibody titers of these patients were 1:32,000 and 1:64,000, and the cerebrospinal fluid titers were 1:40 and 1:320, respectively. After extensive plasmapheresis together with radiation therapy and chemotherapy, the cerebellar symptoms of one patient ameliorated concomitantly with a reduced serum anti-Purkinje cell antibody titer. Four B-cell lines producing anti-Purkinje cell antibodies were established from one patient by Epstein-Barr virus transformation of peripheral lymphocytes. None of these antibodies reacted with peripheral T cells, although the serum anti-Purkinje cell activity of the patient was markedly reduced after absorption with purified human T cells. Thus, anti-Purkinje cell antibodies are apparently directed both to antigens unique to the cerebellar tissue and those shared by T cells.