Distinct phenotype of early childhood inflammatory bowel disease.

Goals: Our goals were to answer 2 questions: (1) Is the presentation of early-onset inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) similar to typical adolescent-onset IBD? (2) Is there variability in familial aggregation in childhood IBD?

Background: The phenotype of IBD in children under 5 years of age (early-onset) is poorly defined. Clinical and genetic studies of IBD, however, generally assume the phenotype to be homogenous throughout childhood.

Study: We analyzed data from 413 consecutive pediatric IBD outpatients attending our center between 1995 and 2000.

Human milk-specific mucosal lymphocytes of the gastrointestinal tract display a TH2 cytokine profile.

Background: A number of gastrointestinal disorders, including allergic eosinophilic gastroenteritis and food protein-induced enteropathy, have been associated with milk hypersensitivity. The immunologic reactions appear to involve T cells that are activated by specific food proteins.

Objective: The present study was performed to examine the cytokine profiles of milk-specific lymphocytes from the duodenal lamina propria from children with milk-induced gastrointestinal diseases.