Clinicopathologic Characteristics of PANDAS in a Young Adult: A Case Report

Kulumani Mahadevan LS, Murphy M, Selenica M, Latimer E, Harris BT. Clinicopathologic Characteristics of PANDAS in a Young Adult: A Case Report. Dev Neurosci. 2023;45(6):335-341. doi: 10.1159/000534061. Epub 2023 Sep 12. PMID: 37699369; PMCID: PMC10753865.

Although this disease is primarily thought to be a disease of childhood, it is reported to occur also in adults. PANDAS is a well-defined clinical entity, but the neuropathology of this condition has not been established yet. We describe the clinical course of a 26-year-old female diagnosed with PANDAS. She committed suicide and her brain was biobanked for further studies. We examined the banked tissue and performed special stains, immunohistochemical, and immunofluorescence analyses to characterize the neuropathology of this condition. Histology of the temporal lobes, hippocampus, and basal ganglia shows mild gliosis and Alzheimer’s type II astrocytes. Acute hypoxic ischemic changes were noted in hippocampus CA1 and CA2 areas. Immunostaining shows increased parenchymal/perivascular GFAP staining and many vessels with mild increases in CD3-, CD4-, and CD25-stained lymphocytes in the basal ganglia. The findings suggest that CD4- and CD25-positive T cells might have an important role in understanding the neuroinflammation and pathogenesis of this condition. The case represents the first neuropathological evaluation report for PANDAS.

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