A 31-year-old man incurs an injury in an industrial accident, with a steel H-beam striking the right side of his face, crushing the zygomatic arch and damaging the globe of the right eye. He undergoes plastic repair of bone and soft tissues and an attempt is made to salvage the eye. A month later, he has decreased visual acuity in both eyes, with choroidal thickening seen on funduscopic examination. The right eye is enucleated and shows prominent CD4 lymphocyte and macrophage infiltration of the uvea.
By which of the following immunologic mechanisms has this condition most likely developed?
A. Breakdown of T-cell anergy
B. Polyclonal lymphocyte activation
C. Release of sequestered antigens
D. Cross-reactivity with myocardial antigens
E. Failure of T-cell mediated suppression