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P/Q-type calcium-channel antagonists were the most potent inhibitors of depolarization-induced 45Ca influx in cultured small-cell carcinoma cell lines.Anti-P/Q-type calcium-channel antibodies were found in serum from all 32 patients with the Lambert-Eaton syndrome and a diagnosis of cancer and in 91 percent of the 33 patients with the Lambert-Eaton syndrome without cancer.Anti-N-type calcium-channel antibodies were found in 49 percent of the 65 patients with the Lambert-Eaton syndrome.Lower titers of anti-P/Q-type and anti-N type calcium-channel antibodies were found in 54 percent of 70 patients with a paraneoplastic encephalomyeloneuropathic complication of lung,ovarian,or breast carcinoma,24 percent of 90 patients with cancer but no evident neurologic complications,23 percent of 78 patients with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,and less than 3 percent of 69 patients with myasthenia gravis,epilepsy,or scleroderma.The high frequency of P/Q-type calcium-channel antibodies found in patients with the Lambert-Eaton syndrome implies that antibodies of this specificity have a role in the presynaptic pathophysiology of this disorder. |
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