REACT – Reciprocal Cardio-Oncology Interactions

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer are the leading causes of death worldwide and are increasingly recognized as biologically interconnected rather than independent diseases. They share common risk factors and overlapping pathomechanisms, including chronic inflammation, immune dysregulation, metabolic remodeling, and hypoxia. While advances in cancer therapy have markedly improved patient survival, cardiovascular complications have emerged as a major cause of morbidity and mortality among cancer survivors. Conversely, growing clinical and epidemiological evidence indicates that CVD promotes cancer initiation and progression. However, the mechanisms underlying this bidirectional crosstalk remain poorly understood, largely because of the lack of suitable experimental models.

The REACT consortium addresses this critical gap by investigating reciprocal interactions between cancer and CVD using newly established murine models of myocardial infarction–accelerated tumor growth and cancer-induced pathologic cardiac remodeling. Integrating internationally recognized expertise in oncology, cardiovascular biology, immunology, systems biology, cell death, and data science, REACT is a unique interdisciplinary collaboration to dissect the molecular and cellular mechanisms linking both diseases.

By generating shared disease models, integrated datasets, and mechanistic insights, REACT will lay the foundation for a subsequent collaborative research program to identify novel therapeutic targets and develop cardioprotective strategies to improve outcomes for patients with both cancer and cardiovascular disease.