From cancer patients to cancer survivors: The issue of Cardioncology – A biological perspective

A simplification of the role of circulating EPCs in oncology, cardiology, and cardioncology. A high frequency of circulating EPCs is associated with a good prognosis in cardiovascular diseases and could exert a potential beneficial repairing activity. On the contrary, EPCs are involved in tumour growth and progression, as well as metastasisation. Thus, in forthcoming years, reducing circulating EPCs to limit tumour growth or increasing them to limit cardiac damage derived from the use of chemotherapy could become a hotly debated issue in oncology and cardiology.