[Acute relapse in Charcot-Marie-Tooth 1B neuropathy: can protein P0 behave like an autoantigen?]

The natural history of Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathy is marked by accentuated motor and sensitive deficits suggestive of acute polyradiculoneuritis or, more generally, chronic inflammatory demyelinizing polyneuropathy.

A 41-year-old woman, with Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) 1B neuropathy associated with a P0 gene mutation, developed several episodes of ataxia which resolved after intravenous administration of IgG or corticosteroids.

The sudden increase of a motor or sensitive deficit in this patient with CMT type I led to two hypotheses: chance association between an inherited and an inflammatory neuropathy, or a dysimmune inflammatory reaction, the mutated protein acting like an autoantigen. These two hypotheses are discussed.