Discover the Scientific Programme
The EASL SLD Summit 2025 offers a comprehensive exploration of steatotic liver disease, over three days. The programme integrates practical clinical education with the latest research updates.
The first day opens with a session titled “The trajectory of people living with Steatotic Liver Disease: a clinical update and consensus.” This session will feature talks covering aspects from prevention to end-stage disease management, including key stakeholders. Participants will help create a consensus document for holistic management, including pediatric care.
Also on the first day, the summit will host the “Endpoint Conference on ALD and MetALD in Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials". This conference focuses on improving clinical trial design, execution, and evaluation for ALD and MetALD, aiming to enhance patient outcomes. It will address the progression from fibrosis to decompensated cirrhosis, the use of invasive versus non-invasive tests as endpoints, and the role of MASH methodologies in informing clinical trials for ALD and MetALD.
On 24 and 25 January, the summit’s core programme will delve into the latest innovations and insights in MASLD, MetALD, and ALD. Attendees will gain a holistic understanding of SLD, from research findings to the practical implications for patient care. This summit fosters networking among scientists, healthcare providers and public health experts with common interests in SLD.
Programme overview
Discover the sessions
The trajectory of people living with Steatotic Liver Disease: a clinical update and consensus
Several societies have issued guidelines for different aspects of SLD, ranging from case-finding to management of patients with end-stage liver disease. However, many different healthcare providers play a role and need to find their way through understanding these guidelines. Taking the patient trajectory as the leading principle, we will provide an update of where each specific point in this trajectory currently stands, with a consensus proposal on how this can be carried out in daily practice. The clinical updates and recommendations will be prepared by a multidisciplinary faculty and presented in a concise and highly practical way. The programme will allow for open discussion of all the practical aspects involved in the multidisciplinary management of people living with SLD anno 2025. The programme highlights the patient-centered view, the holistic approach, the role of different stakeholders involved, as well as how to adapt management to local resources and organisation of the health care system.
The Endpoint conference on ALD and MetALD in Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials
This conference is dedicated to enhancing the design, execution, and evaluation of clinical trials for ALD and MetALD, aiming to improve patient outcomes and treatment strategies. Over three sessions we will cover crucial aspects of designing Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3 clinical trials for ALD and MetALD, examining the progression from fibrosis to decompensated cirrhosis, and evaluating invasive versus non-invasive tests as endpoints. Additionally, we will explore how methodologies and discoveries in Metabolic Associated Steatohepatitis (MASH) can inform clinical trials for ALD and MetALD, fostering a multidisciplinary approach to liver disease research.
Understanding the interplay between alcohol consumption and cardiometabolic risk factors is vital in ALD and MetALD. We will discuss best practices for assessing cardiovascular risk factors and measuring alcohol consumption in clinical trials, as well as monitoring changes in these factors and liver steatosis throughout the trial period. Our discussions will also focus on establishing appropriate endpoints for Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials across different stages of ALD and MetALD, ensuring robust and meaningful outcomes. Together, we aim to push the boundaries of clinical research and pave the way for better therapeutic options for patients suffering from these liver diseases.
Session 1: SLD: pathogenesis and natural history
MASLD and ALD are the two main causes of SLD. They share many features, including certain pathophysiological mechanisms, susceptibility genes, and histological lesions. However, the natural history of the two diseases seems to be significantly different, although that may depend on the timing of the diagnosis in both diseases. This session will discuss similarities and differences in pathogenesis, genetic susceptibility and natural history between ALD, MASLD, and the new player “MetALD”.
Session 2: Interactions between alcohol and metabolic risk factors
Metabolic risk factors and alcohol consumption often coexist in patients with SLD, and evidence suggests a synergistic effect on the progression of liver disease.
The objective of this session is to discuss whether the different metabolic parameters have the same impact on liver disease progression, to understand how alcohol can influence metabolic parameters, and to review how alcohol and metabolic dysfunction influence liver disease progression. Is there an amount of alcohol consumption beyond which the presence of metabolic risk factors do not influence the progression of SLD?
Session 3: Diagnosis and severity assessment of SLD
The new SLD nomenclature has introduced a new player called “MetALD”, highlighting the frequent interaction between alcohol and metabolic dysfunction.
This opens new questions: does this modify the way to assess fibrosis in SLD patients? Do we need specific tools to assess alcohol consumption? Is there a place for liver biopsy to differentiate ALD, MetALD and MASLD, and to assess disease severity?
Session 4: Obesity and SLD
Obesity is frequently associated with SLD. However, the pathophysiological mechanisms linking obesity to SLD are still ill-understood. Moreover, it is unclear whether weight loss will reverse all aspects of SLD or whether there will be a memory effect in treated individuals. This session will address our current understanding on these topics and discuss the mechanisms of altered intra-cellular lipid-trafficking in the development of MASLD.
Session 5: Inflammation and fibrosis in the progression of MASH
Innate, innate-like and adaptive immunity are central in the progression of MASLD to MASH and fibrosis. This session will cover the current knowledge on the complex interaction of different actors, such as the immune cells, hepatocytes and stellate cells, in the progression MASLD and fibrosis.
Session 6: New technologies in the discovery of the mechanisms of MASLD pathophysiology
Recent technological revolutions, such as single cell and single nuclei RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics, combined with murine precision genetics and metabolomics, have opened avenues to dig with further precision in the details of the mechanisms of MASLD development. In this session, the use of these technologies will be critically discussed and exemplified in the MASLD context.
Session 7: Gut-liver and microbiota in SLD
The gut-liver interaction is crucial in SLD as it influences disease development and progression through mechanisms like microbial dysbiosis and metabolic endotoxemia, which can exacerbate liver inflammation and damage. This session will explore the role of the microbiome in non-alcoholic and alcohol-related liver disease (ArLD), examining the impact of dysbiosis on disease progression. Furthermore, it will address best practices in microbiome research, offering guidelines on generating robust pre-clinical and clinical evidence and discussing common pitfalls in study designs and methodologies.
Session 8: Treating metabolic dysfunction in SLD - pharmacological approaches
The last year has witnessed a number of breakthrough clinical trials in MASLD. Several therapeutic approaches have resulted in promising results and yielded positive phase 2 and 3 trial data. Among these therapeutic approaches, some target hormonal pathways (such as THRb) or obesity-related metabolic disorders (such as the different incretin analogs). In this session, the fine mechanisms of action of these different therapeutics will be discussed.
Session 9: Public health and SLD
Prevention and early diagnosis are the cornerstones of SLD. In fact, SLD is mainly caused by harmful alcohol consumption or metabolic risk factors, that heavily depend on behavioral and cultural influences. Consequently, implementation of correct policies regarding alcohol and food marketing is crucial. This will be put into context in the areas of obesity and diabetes, and we will hear from their experience. Additionally, the correct pathways of referral from GPs to reference centres, can make an enormous difference in the early diagnosis and follow-up, as well as in achieving the correct balance concerning those that need follow-up for their liver disease. The best way to achieve these goals will be discussed, as well as what the current policies are and how they can be modulated in a positive way.