T cell-mediated ganglionitis associated with acute sensory neuronopathy

A 67-year-old man presented with acute painful sensory loss, areflexia, ataxia, urinary retention, and severe constipation and became unable to walk within 2 weeks. He died suddenly 5 weeks after the onset of symptoms. Autopsy revealed widespread inflammation of sensory and autonomic ganglia with immunocytochemical evidence of a CD8(+) T cell-mediated cytotoxic attack against ganglion neurons. This observation suggests a novel pathogenetic mechanism of immune-mediated human ganglion cell damage comparable to mechanisms operating in polymyositis.