[Subacute cerebellar degeneration and pleural mesothelioma. Report of a case].

Subacute cerebellar degeneration is an autoimmune disorder and represents the paraneoplastic neurologic syndrome most frequently occurring in the central nervous system. To our knowledge, until now, no case of such a paraneoplastic syndrome as been described in patients with mesothelioma; on the contrary, some non-neurologic paraneoplastic syndromes have been described in patients with mesothelioma, and an aberrant production of cytokines has been suggested as the main pathogenetic event. In our report it can be supposed that an aberrant production of cytokines might have triggered an autoimmune reaction, causing anti Purkinje cells antibodies production, neurological damage and clinical outcome.