Publications by authors named "Kevin Cesa"

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a systemic disorder where extraintestinal symptoms may involve virtually any organ system. Of these extraintestinal symptoms, those involving the heart are relatively rare but associated with significant morbidity. We reviewed the existing literature on noninfectious myocarditis and pericarditis in the pediatric IBD population, including extraintestinal manifestations (EIMs) of IBD and extraintestinal complications (EICs) from medication.

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A 20-year-old woman with Crohn's disease receiving infliximab therapy presented to the emergency department with lower extremity swelling secondary to compression of the common iliac vein. On magnetic resonance imaging, an enlarging pelvic mass was identified. The pathology of the mass was consistent with myelolipoma.

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Background: There are limited studies examining caregiver distress when raising a child with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of symptoms of distress (anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD]) among parents with children with IBD and associations with disease severity, time from diagnosis, and demographic factors.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study with parents of children (2-17 years) diagnosed with IBD.

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Background: Prior studies have shown that parents of children with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) have significantly more symptoms of depression and anxiety, compared to parents with children who do not have a chronic illness (1). The aim of this study is to investigate the occurrence of symptoms of distress, including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, among parents of children with IBD and associations with disease course and time from diagnosis.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study with parents with children (2-17 yrs) diagnosed with IBD.

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Unlabelled: Previous studies have shown that elite controllers with minimal effector T cell responses harbor a low-frequency, readily expandable, highly functional, and broadly directed memory population. Here, we interrogated the in vivo relevance of this cell population by investigating whether the breadth of expandable memory responses is associated with the magnitude of residual viremia in individuals achieving durable suppression of HIV infection. HIV-specific memory CD8(+) T cells were expanded by using autologous epitopic and variant peptides.

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Background.  Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 elite controllers (ECs) represent an ideal population to study the effects of HIV persistence on chronic inflammation in the absence of antiretroviral therapy (ART). Methods.

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Decreased HIV-specific CD8(+) T cell proliferation is a hallmark of chronic infection, but the mechanisms of decline are unclear. We analyzed gene expression profiles from antigen-stimulated HIV-specific CD8(+) T cells from patients with controlled and uncontrolled infection and identified caspase-8 as a correlate of dysfunctional CD8(+) T cell proliferation. Caspase-8 activity was upregulated in HIV-specific CD8(+) T cells from progressors and correlated positively with disease progression and programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) expression, but negatively with proliferation.

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Unlabelled: The development of immunomonitoring models to determine HIV-1 vaccine efficacy is a major challenge. Studies suggest that HIV-1–specific CD8 T cells play a critical role in subjects achieving spontaneous viral control (HIV-1 controllers) and that they will be important in immune interventions. However, no single CD8 T-cell function is uniquely associated with controller status and the heterogeneity of responses targeting different epitopes further complicates the discovery of determinants of protective immunity.

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The human leukocyte antigens HLA-B27 and HLA-B57 are associated with protection against progression of disease that results from infection with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), yet most people with alleles encoding HLA-B27 and HLA-B57 are unable to control HIV-1. Here we found that HLA-B27-restricted CD8(+) T cells in people able to control infection with HIV-1 (controllers) and those who progress to disease after infection with HIV-1 (progressors) differed in their ability to inhibit viral replication through targeting of the immunodominant epitope of group-associated antigen (Gag) of HIV-1. This was associated with distinct T cell antigen receptor (TCR) clonotypes, characterized by superior control of HIV-1 replication in vitro, greater cross-reactivity to epitope variants and enhanced loading and delivery of perforin.

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Analyses of the breadth and specificity of virus-specific CD8(+) T cell responses associated with control of HIV have largely relied on measurement of cytokine secretion by effector T cells. These have resulted in the identification of HIV elite controllers with low or absent responses in which non-T-cell mechanisms of control have been suggested. However, successful control of HIV infection may be associated with central memory T cells, which have not been consistently examined in these individuals.

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