ECCO News keeps ECCO Members up-to-date on what is going on within the organisation and reports on IBD activities taking place within Europe. Since Spring 2006, ECCO News has maintained the flow of information between Members of the organisation.
ECCO News is an important part of the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation’s ambition to create a European standard of IBD care and to promote knowledge and research in the field of IBD.
Johnson & Johnson Satellite Symposia at ECCO 2025, Berlin, Germany
Date of preparation: March 2025 EM-177264
Introduction
Johnson & Johnson sponsored two dynamic satellite symposia at the 20th Congress of the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO 2025), each diving deep into pressing topics within the field of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
The first symposium, tailored for Crohn’s disease (CD), was entitled “Expanding the universe in IBD: going beyond in Crohn’s disease”. The esteemed experts Prof. Silvio Danese, Prof. Iris Dotan, Prof. Mathurin Fumery and Prof. Joana Torres led engaging discussions that highlighted innovative approaches in CD management. The second symposium focused on ulcerative colitis (UC), under the title “Expanding the universe in IBD: going beyond in ulcerative colitis”, featuring insights from Prof. Raja Atreya, Dr Tim Raine and Prof. Séverine Vermeire.
If you were not able to attend these interesting and influential symposia, keep reading for a summary of the highlights, including key efficacy and safety data from studies with guselkumab and how guselkumab could shape the future landscape of IBD care.
It is our pleasure to present our conversation with Armenia’s ECCO National Representatives, Manik Gemilyan and Edmond Baghdasaryan. In this video, we aim to provide an insightful overview of the evolving landscape of IBD care in Armenia, highlighting current challenges, progress, and the aspirations of the local medical community.
Manik and Edmond share how awareness and diagnosis of IBD are steadily increasing in the region. They describe how Armenian gastroenterologists are actively working to enhance education, improve access to treatment, and strengthen collaboration with international organizations like ECCO. The interview also offers personal reflections on the value of networking, scientific exchange, and the pride of representing Armenia within the global IBD community.
Sophie Restellini is a familiar name to many in the ECCO Community. She serves as Director of the Center for Crohn’s and Colitis in Geneva and is an Adjunct Professor at McGill University Health Center in Montreal. In this month's Y-ECCO Interview, we delve into Sophie’s career, her connection with ECCO, her contributions to the field of IBD field and her insights into the future of IBD treatment and education.
Genome‐wide association studies (GWAS) have identified several susceptibility loci believed to predispose individuals to Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) [1]. However, to translate the discovery of these risk loci into meaningful improvements in disease management or prevention, it is vital to understand how risk variants impact upon disease development and inflammatory processes [2]. In this regard, a non-coding risk locus on chromosome 21q22 had previously been linked to multiple immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, including IBD, primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), axial spondyloarthropathy and Takayasu’s arteritis; however, no causal gene was identified [3–6]. Stankey and colleagues sought to use functional genomics to identify the causal gene and investigate its role at cellular and metabolic levels, with the goal of revealing potential therapeutic targets.
Postoperative recurrence (POR) in Crohn’s Disease (CD) remains a significant clinical challenge. Surgical resection is often necessary to manage complications such as strictures, fistulas and abscesses, and disease recurrence is common in many patients without prophylactic treatment. Despite advances in surgical and medical management, recurrence rates remain alarmingly high. Endoscopic recurrence can occur in up to 90% of patients within one year of ileocolonic resection if left untreated , while clinical recurrence, typically defined in clinical trials using the Crohn’s Disease Activity Index (CDAI), occurs in up to 40% of patients within 12 months of surgery [1]. These rates underscore the importance of developing effective strategies to prevent disease recurrence and enhance long-term patient outcome. Ileocolonoscopy is the gold standard for diagnosing postoperative recurrence, as it defines the presence and severity of morphological recurrence. Both European and American guidelines recommend endoscopic monitoring within 6–12 months after surgery to evaluate for POR and guide treatment decisions, regardless of pharmacological prophylaxis [2, 3].
Current guidelines suggest using clincial predictors of early postoperative recurrence after ileocolonic resection to guide treatment. These potential predictors include smoking status, prior intestinal surgery, absence of prophylactic treatment, penetrating disease at index surgery, perianal location, granulomas in the resection specimen and myenteric plexitis. For patients with at least one of these risk factors, prophylactic treatment is strongly advised, with thiopurines or anti-TNFs historically being used as the preferred options to reduce the risk of recurrence [2]. Vedolizumab, a gut-selective integrin antagonist, has emerged as a promising alternative. D’Haens and colleagues conducted the first placebo-controlled clinical trial to date to assess the efficacy and safety of vedolizumab in reducing both the incidence and the severity of POR in patients with CD.
The therapeutic landscape for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is rapidly evolving, with the introduction of new advanced therapies. Despite these advances, there is an absence of head-to-head clinical trial data to support decision-making regarding the choice and sequencing of drugs – with evidence often being extrapolated from indirect comparisons between single-agent clinical trials or observational studies [1]. This is well highlighted by the fact that there is often a lack of data to support choice of medication after first-line use of anti-tumour necrosis factor (TNF) agents. Ustekinumab is a humanised IgG1 monoclonal antibody that selectively binds to the p40 subunit and was approved for the treatment of Crohn’s Disease (CD) several years ago. Risankizumab, which was approved more recently, is also an IgG1 monoclonal antibody, but it selectively binds to the p19 subunit. Both p19 and p40 are components of the interleukin-23 (IL-23) proinflammatory cytokine, which plays a crucial role in skin, joint and gastrointestinal inflammation [2]. Peyrin-Biroulet and colleagues sought to undertake a direct head-to-head comparison of ustekinumab with risankizumab for patients with CD after failure of anti-TNF therapy.
The 11th edition of the Y-ECCO Science Workshop took place during the ECCO Congress in Berlin on February 19 , 2025, providing a platform for early-career basic and translational scientists to present and discuss research with peers and senior experts. The event fostered an intellectually stimulating environment, encouraging participants to expand their knowledge and engage in advanced research challenges.
During the recent 20th Congress of ECCO, I found myself listening to David Bowie’s Low, a classic album written in Berlin well before the artist’s 35th birthday. So nearly 50 years on from that record, it was fitting that the finest work in IBD, including so many contributions from Y-ECCO Members, should be presented in the city. Of the 1534 accepted abstracts, 12 oral presentations, 52 digital oral presentations (DOPs) and 457 poster abstracts were delivered by Y-ECCO Members – over a third of the content! Alongside our five Abstract Award winners, Y-ECCO Members also collected seven DOP Awards, six ECCO Grants and one Young Researcher Award. It is clear that Y-ECCO is both the future and the present of ECCO, so please do continue the hard work and get involved!
At the 20th Congress of ECCO, held in Berlin, Germany from February 19 to 22, 2025, we organised the 10th H-ECCO IBD Masterclass. The aims of our meeting were to discuss the histopathological aspects of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), to highlight the multidisciplinary approach to the diagnostic process – also illustrated by the similar number of pathologists and gastroenterologists in the audience – and to look towards the future.
As the chair of the P-ECCO Committee, it is my pleasure to introduce the newly elected member of the Committee, Eileen Crowley, a paediatric gastroenterologist from London Health Sciences Centre in Ontario, Canada.
Eileen completed her medical degree and Higher Specialist Training with the Royal College of Physicians, Ireland. She then moved to the Hospital of SickKids in Toronto, where she completed a Pediatric Gastroenterology Fellowship and a sub-specialty IBD Fellowship. While in Toronto, she first-authored a seminal paper that was published in Gastroenterology in 2020, entitled: “Prevalence and Clinical Features of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Associated With Monogenic Variants, Identified by Whole-Exome Sequencing in 1000 Children at a Single Center”. This work has served to better delineate the genetic phenotype of children with IBD, as well as optimising response to therapy in this age group.
Brigida Barberio
Robin Dart
