Christian Maaser © ECCO

The hands-on imaging workshops have become one of the most rapidly booked ECCO Workshops in recent years as they are known to offer excellent interactivity. Participants have the opportunity to explore the potential of intestinal ultrasound (IUS) through the use of hands-on simulators and in some years even by imaging patients. In addition, there is always very interactive discussion in small groups with radiologists who are internationally well known for their expertise in abdominal imaging.

Marietta Iacucci © ECCO

In 2021 the ECCO Endoscopy Workshop reached its 7^th edition, and it has now become a mainstay of the educational activities of ECCO. This year it moved online as a fully virtual meeting and was organised by the Education Committee (EduCom).

Participating speakers and chairs: Ralf Bisschops, Belgium; Bu'Hussain Hayee, UK; Rosanna Cannatelli, Italy; Marietta Iacucci, UK, Pierre Ellul, Malta

Pascal Juillerat  © ECCO

Dear ECCO Members,

I truly hope that you and your loved ones are faring well and that you enjoyed well-deserved rest during the summer.

I also hope that you all enjoyed the exciting scientific and educational programmes at ECCO’21 Congress in July. All of the presentations of both programmes are available on demand on the virtual congress platform until October 31, 2021. This was the first time that ECCO held its Congress virtually – the preparations kept everyone at ECCO very occupied with the organisation having been just as tough and demanding as for a physical congress. By no means did this signify that the production of our e-Learning material had been hampered – on the contrary, we have prepared plenty of new material for you to check out, and made significant improvements to the IBD Curriculum!

To make it easier to navigate and learn from, the IBD Curriculum now directly links to material in the e-library. This provides a more wholesome and hands-on overview for those seeking to develop their expertise in IBD.!

A total of 76 abstracts focussing on IBD epidemiology were accepted for presentation at the 16^th Congress of ECCO. Among the ten best abstracts, one was presented in the scientific programme and nine in digital oral presentation (DOP) sessions. The remaining 66 abstracts were presented as posters.

Take your study to the next level with the IBD National Study Group Meeting at the ECCO Congress

Uri Kopylov  © ECCO

One of the missions of the Clinical Research Committee of ECCO (ClinCom) is to facilitate innovative clinical research in the area of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD).

To promote international scientific collaboration among researchers from different European countries, ClinCom established the IBD National Study Group Meeting, which takes place at the annual ECCO Congress. With this great platform, ClinCom enables investigators to have their studies challenged and promoted at the same time. Before the meeting, investigators are invited to provide a study synopsis for their project, including background, design, objectives, outcome parameters, major inclusion and exclusion criteria, statistics and co-variates. Submitted projects are then reviewed by ClinCom and, if found feasible, discussed during the IBD National Study Group Meeting at the ECCO Congress.

Nicolas Pierre © Nicolas Pierre

Blood proteins related to immunoregulation or cellular junctions reveal distinct biological profiles associated with the risk of short-term versus mid/long-term relapse in Crohn’s Disease patients stopping infliximab

In Crohn’s Disease (CD), anti-tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα) therapy can induce mucosal healing and stable remission. When this objective is achieved, treatment de-escalation may be considered for safety, economic and patient preference purposes. Indeed, chronic exposure to anti-TNFα has been linked to serious complications (e.g. lymphoma, infections, melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers) [1–4], and this treatment is a burden for the healthcare system [5]. On the other hand, around 50% of CD patients relapse 1–2 years after stopping anti-TNFα [6]. Thus, this strategy cannot be proposed to every patient in remission; rather, decisions should be made on an individualised basis [6].

The 5^th Advanced ECCO: EduCational COurse for Industry, organised by the Clinical Research Committee of ECCO (ClinCom), was one of the highlights of the educational programme during the ECCO’21 Congress and was held virtually, with live presentations and discussions. The course was aimed at our industry partners and had the broad goal of discussing the areas of IBD research of key importance in the immediate future. 

Laurent Beaugerie © ECCO

This year’s 4^th School for Clinical Trialists, organised by the ECCO Clinical Research Committee (ClinCom), offered an excellent opportunity to review all the key points of the balance between expected efficacy and potential risks of IBD drugs, in the contexts of both clinical trials and routine care.

JAK-STAT-driven immunometabolism as a novel principle in the pathophysiology of Ulcerative Colitis

Janus kinase (JAK) inhibition is a novel therapeutic approach in the management of Ulcerative Colitis (UC). However, the role of JAK inhibition with respect to cell-specific immunometabolic properties is not known.

The overall aim of this multi-year research proposal is to generate deeper understanding of the interplay of JAK inhibition and immunometabolic properties in the intestinal mucosa at a cellular level and thereby to open up new avenues in biomarker development and novel targeted interventions in UC. This aim is being pursued by (i) identifying immunometabolomic signatures of JAK inhibition in UC patients using multi-omics analysis of longitudinal therapy response cohorts and (ii) modelling the impact of two metabolic principles, namely amino acide (e.g. tryptophan) and short-chain fatty acids (e.g. butyrate), on the efficacy of JAK inhibition in ex vivo organisms.

Yves Panis © ECCO

Precision medicine in IBD 

The ninth edition of the SciCom Workshop, held during the 16^th Congress of ECCO, was dedicated to recent advances in "Precision medicine in IBD", covering different aspects from disease prevention to prediction of disease course and therapeutic responses and potential strategies for disease cure.