In 2016, an epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) of 240 newly-diagnosed adult patients with IBD (CD and UC) and 190 controls successfully identified four DMRs (VMP1, ITGB2, WDR8 and CDC42BPB) in CD versus controls, and two DMRs (VMP1 and WDR8) in UC in comparison with controls, which paralleled the genomic findings that CD and UC not only have their own specific susceptibility loci, but also share overlapping risk loci to some extent. This evidence concerns the gene VMP1 and irritable bowel syndrome.