Cohort Coordination Board expands beyond COVID-19 and welcomes five new mpox cohorts
At the end of 2024 the Cohort Coordination Board (CCB) expanded its membership to include cohort studies targeting any infectious disease with epidemic or pandemic potential (IDEPP), welcoming five new cohorts of mpox: ITM Antwerp, MoVIHvax, German Mpox Cohort, VIHMIR, and MPOX-ICONA Cohort.
The CCB, coordinated by the ID-CARE team at the University of Verona, is a forum that brings together cohort-based COVID-19 and mpox research projects across Europe alongside representatives from the European Commission, EMA, ECDC and EFPIA. It aims to encourage knowledge-sharing between cohort-based research projects to facilitate partnerships, find solutions to common challenges and reduce overlap between projects. Originally managed under the auspices of the Horizon 2020 ORCHESTRA project, the CCB has since been included into the Horizon Europe VERDI and CoMeCT projects. The figure below shows the timeline of the various projects, and how one led to another, starting with the Trial Coordination Board in July 2020.
Through its inclusion to the CoMeCT project, the CCB expanded its membership to include cohort studies targeting any IDEPP and, due to the recent mpox outbreak, invited five new mpox cohorts to join the CCB. See more information about these five cohorts below.
German Mpox Cohort
The German Mpox cohort is a retrospective cohort study, operating in 42 centres across Germany, and has described the clinical characteristics of the first mpox outbreak in Germany in 2022 in 546 patients. A follow-up is currently planned to give more insight into the long-term effects of the virus.
ITM Antwerp
Individuals diagnosed with mpox at the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp are evaluated at diagnosis and followed up with intervals of 8 to 12 months after the infection. Data and samples are systematically collected, to provide insights into clinical, virological, immunological, and epidemiological aspects of mpox.
MoVIHvax
The MoVIHvax cohort, established in September 2022, aims to characterise vaccine-induced responses against mpox in populations with and without HIV. The study is running in three STI and HIV clinics in the Barcelona Metropolitan area and enrols patients across two groups: participants seeking an MVA-BN vaccination and participants experiencing a breakthrough infection - confirmed mpox with confirmed full MVA-BN vaccination.
Mpox-ICONA
Mpox-ICONA is a multicentre historical cohort study implemented within the Italian cohort naïve antiretrovirals (ICONA) clinical network.
ICONA is the largest clinical network for HIV in Italy, including more than 21,000 people living with HIV enrolled in 64 clinical centres. Its network has been exploited to collect data on people at high risk of mpox (which recognises an epidemiological network that overlaps with HIV). The aim of Mpox-ICONA cohort is to assess mpox disease from the clinical and virological points of view. Moreover, the cohort studies immunological issues related to mpox infection and MVA-BN vaccination.
VIHMAR
The VIHMAR Cohort, established in 2021, is based at Hospital del Mar in Barcelona and focuses on studying HIV and sexually transmitted diseases in the city’s coastal area. Its aim is to prospectively collect data since 2023 and retrospectively analyse information dating back to 2019, creating a robust registry to better understand epidemiological trends, clinical presentations, and transmission dynamics. The cohort has developed specific research focuses on various STDs, including Mpox, and serves as a valuable platform for collaboration with other national and international cohorts. By integrating a biobank with biological specimens, VIHMAR supports cutting-edge research and enables targeted interventions to improve prevention, diagnosis, and management strategies for HIV and STDs.