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A call to action for the evolving field of cardio-oncology

Nature Cardiovascular Research volume 4, pages 1441–1446 (2025)Cite this article

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Heart failure and cancer share risk factors and biological pathways, yet their interplay remains underexplored. This Comment calls for coordinated research, precision medicine approaches and policy changes to advance the emerging field of cardio-oncology.

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Fig. 1: Schematic representation of the systems biology approach to precision medicine in the field of cardio-oncology.
Fig. 2: Asymmetric reporting of neoplasms and cardiac disorders in HF- and cancer-related clinical studies.
Fig. 3: Accumulating data from two large funding bodies (NIH and ERC) show a lack of proper financial support for cardio-oncology.

Data availability

All datasets used in generating Figs. 2 and 3 are provided in Supplementary Data 1–4.

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Acknowledgements

R.A.d.B. is supported by the Netherlands Heart Foundation (NHS; grants 2020B005, 01-003-2022-0358), by an NHS grant co-funded by ERA4Health (GA grant 101095426 of the EU Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme) and by the European Research Council (ERC CoG 818715). W.C.M. is supported by grants from the ZonMW (Off Road; 04510012210034 & VENI; 09150162310159).

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Reza Parvan, Joseph Pierre AbouMsallem.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiovascular Institute, Thorax Center, Department of Cardiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

    Reza Parvan, Joseph Pierre AbouMsallem, Wouter C. Meijers & Rudolf A. de Boer

Authors
  1. Reza Parvan
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  2. Joseph Pierre AbouMsallem
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  3. Wouter C. Meijers
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  4. Rudolf A. de Boer
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Correspondence to Rudolf A. de Boer.

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Competing interests

R.A.d.B.’s institution has received research grants and/or fees from Alnylam, AstraZeneca, Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb, NovoNordisk and Roche; R.A.d.B. has had speaker engagements with and/or received fees from and/or served on advisory boards for Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, NovoNordisk, Roche and Zoll and has received travel support from Abbott and NovoNordisk. W.C.M. has received speaker/advisory board fees from Daiichi Sankyo, Novartis and Astellas.

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Parvan, R., AbouMsallem, J.P., Meijers, W.C. et al. A call to action for the evolving field of cardio-oncology. Nat Cardiovasc Res 4, 1441–1446 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44161-025-00742-x

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