A pilot study on neurological manifestations and antibodies against antigens in children with hematological and other cancers.

Background: Paraneoplastic neurological syndromes (PNS) are most commonly recognized in adults with cancer and can often be identified by the presence of serum antibodies to neuronal proteins that are also expressed by the associated tumor. In children: (a) little emphasis is given to the possibility of paraneoplastic neurological involvement; and (b) few studies investigated the presence of anti-neuronal antibodies.

Objective: To run a pilot study on the spectrum of PNS and presence of antibodies to neural antigens in children with malignancies.