PREDICT-CD Study Begins Recruitment Across Europe to Identify Crohn’s Disease Before Symptoms Appear
Groundbreaking INTERCEPT study recruits first participant in Portugal and launches across seven European countries.
The PREDICT-CD study, a major European study under the Innovative Health Initiative (IHI)–funded INTERCEPT project, has officially begun recruitment, marking a significant step toward predicting and preventing Crohn’s disease before symptoms develop. The first participant has been successfully recruited in Lisbon, Portugal.
PREDICT-CD (Prospective Risk Evaluation and Detection of Crohn’s Disease in First-degree Relatives) will recruit 10,000 healthy first-degree relatives (FDRs) of individuals with Crohn’s disease across Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden. By analysing blood serum samples, researchers aim to further validate a panel of biomarkers and a risk score designed to identify individuals at high risk of developing Crohn’s disease in the pre-clinical stage of the disease.
Crohn’s disease is a chronic, incurable inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that often affects young people and can significantly impact quality of life. First-degree relatives of people with Crohn’s disease have an approximately eight-fold higher risk of developing the condition, making early identification and prevention strategies particularly important.
“PREDICT-CD represents a crucial milestone in our ambition to move Crohn’s disease research upstream. From treating established disease to identifying and intercepting it before symptoms begin in the pre-clinical phase,” said Prof. Dr Geert D’Haens, Project Coordinator of INTERCEPT at Amsterdam UMC. In emphasizing the innovative work in this project, Prof Jean-Frédéric Colombel, Co-lead PI of INTERCEPT at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York added “By validating biomarkers across large and diverse European populations, we are laying the groundwork for a future where Crohn’s disease may be predicted and potentially prevented, making early earlier.”
Participants in PREDICT-CD will provide serum samples and complete health and lifestyle questionnaires through a dedicated app at regular intervals. Using these data, researchers will define a risk score to identify individuals with the highest likelihood of developing Crohn’s disease within the coming years.
From the larger study population, individuals identified as having the highest risk will be invited to take part in an innovative prevention study, HALT-CD. This phase will evaluate whether an established and highly effective medical treatment can prevent the development of full-blown Crohn’s disease and is expected to roll out in 2027.
“Recruiting the first participant is an exciting and meaningful moment for the PREDICT-CD study,” said Dr Joana Torres, Coordinator of the PREDICT-CD Study at Hospital da Luz, Lisbon. “This study offers first-degree relatives the opportunity to contribute to research that could fundamentally change how Crohn’s disease is understood, detected, and ultimately prevented. Not only for themselves, but for future generations.”
Participation in the study is entirely voluntary, with no associated costs. Strict data protection and confidentiality measures are in place to safeguard participants’ personal information. Importantly, the risk estimate generated by the study is not a diagnosis, but a research-based assessment intended to support scientific understanding and future prevention strategies.
PREDICT-CD is a cornerstone study within the INTERCEPT project, a five-year, €38 million research initiative supported by the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking (IHI JU). INTERCEPT brings together clinicians, researchers, patient organisations, and industry partners from Europe, North America, and South Korea with the shared goal of intercepting Crohn’s disease before it becomes clinically apparent.
Learn more
To find out more about the PREDICT-CD study and the INTERCEPT project, visit: www.intercept-ihi.eu