Association of acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and HLA-A11.

Acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (Guillain-Barré syndrome) developed in three patients receiving chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia or the closely related entity lymphoblastic lymphoma, a relationship that has not been previously described. The HLA-A11 antigen was expressed by all patients, two of whom were Chinese, raising the possibility of a genetically-based immunological predisposition to GBS in this patient group.