Multi-Omics and Single-Cell Sequencing to Elucidate Molecular Mechanisms and Advance Precision Medicine in Cardiovascular Diseases and Cancer - Vol. II

This Research Topic is Volume II of a series. The previous volume, which has attracted over 23k views can be found here: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/69805/multi-omics-and-single-cell-sequencing-to-elucidate-molecular-mechanisms-and-advance-precision-medicine-in-cardiovascular-diseases-and-cancerCardiovascular diseases (CVD) and cancer are the two dominant causes of global morbidity and mortality, accounting for the majority of disease-related deaths worldwide. Increasing evidence indicates that these conditions are not merely coexisting but are biologically interconnected across epidemiological, molecular, and clinical dimensions. Large population-based studies have demonstrated that patients with cardiovascular diseases, such as atherosclerosis, heart failure, and aortic disease, carry an elevated long-term risk of developing malignancies. Conversely, cancer survivors face a substantially increased incidence of cardiovascular complications, driven by tumor-derived systemic inflammation, metabolic alterations, immune perturbations, and treatment-related cardiotoxicity. These observations establish CVD and cancer as components of a shared disease continuum rather than isolated pathological entities.At the mechanistic level, CVD and cancer converge on a core set of pathogenic processes that regulate tissue injury, remodeling, and progression. Chronic inflammation and immune dysregulation represent central unifying mechanisms, with innate and adaptive immune cells, including macrophages, neutrophils, T cells, and endothelial cells, playing pivotal roles in both atherosclerotic plaque evolution and tumor microenvironment remodeling. Metabolic reprogramming, characterized by altered glucose, lipid, and mitochondrial metabolism, similarly underlies vascular dysfunction, myocardial remodeling, and tumor growth. Dysregulated cell-death pathways, including apoptosis, autophagy, ferroptosis, pyroptosis, and necroptosis, further link cardiovascular tissue injury with cancer initiation, immune escape, and therapeutic resistance.Importantly, emerging upstream drivers provide a systemic framework connecting cardiovascular pathology and tumorigenesis. Aging-associated processes such as clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP), immune senescence, and chronic low-grade inflammation have been shown to simultaneously promote atherosclerosis, heart failure, and multiple cancer types. Endothelial dysfunction and vascular niche remodeling not only accelerate cardiovascular disease progression but also facilitate tumor angiogenesis, immune cell trafficking, and metastatic dissemination. These shared systemic and microenvironmental factors highlight the necessity of integrated, cross-disease investigations.The advent of multi-omics and single-cell technologies has fundamentally transformed our ability to interrogate these complex interconnections. Genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and spatial omics, combined with single-cell and single-nucleus sequencing, enable high-resolution mapping of cellular heterogeneity, immune-stromal crosstalk, vascular remodeling, and tissue-specific microenvironments across both cardiovascular diseases and cancer. These approaches uniquely allow the identification of shared molecular pathways, cross-disease biomarkers, and convergent therapeutic targets that cannot be captured by traditional bulk or single-disease analyses.This Research Topic aims to advance integrative multi-omics and single-cell studies that elucidate both the shared and disease-specific molecular landscapes of cardiovascular diseases and cancer. We particularly encourage submissions that explore mechanistic intersections, systemic drivers, and translational implications spanning both disease categories. At the same time, high-quality studies focused exclusively on cardiovascular disease or exclusively on cancer remain fully within scope, provided they leverage advanced omics or single-cell methodologies to generate mechanistic or precision-medicine insights.Potential topics include, but are not limited to:• Multi-omics analyses (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, epigenomics, and spatial omics) to uncover key molecular mechanisms in cardiovascular diseases or cancer.• Single-cell and spatial profiling to map cellular heterogeneity, immune infiltration, endothelial dysfunction, and tissue microenvironment dynamics.• Discovery and validation of diagnostic, prognostic, or therapeutic biomarkers-either shared across cardiovascular diseases and cancer or specific to one disease category.• Machine-learning or deep-learning models integrating multi-omics data for disease classification, risk prediction, treatment stratification, or precision clinical decision-making. Submissions must present novel applications of the models, or novel models themselves, or validate findings experimentally (independent clinical or patient cohort, or biological validation in vitro or in vivo).• Systems biology investigations of shared inflammatory, metabolic, immune, and cell-death pathways linking cardiovascular pathology and tumorigenesis.• Multi-omics and single-cell studies in cardio-oncology, including mechanisms of cancer therapy-induced cardiotoxicity and tumor-driven vascular or immune alterations.• Translational applications of omics data to guide perioperative management, surgical outcomes, patient stratification, and individualized therapeutic strategies.• Comparative molecular analyses identifying similarities and differences between cardiovascular diseases and cancer, informing precision medicine and cross-disease therapeutic targets. Topic editors: Chunguang Guo, Taoyuan Lu, Zenglei Zhang, Wufei Dai Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/85309/multi-omics-and-single-cell-sequencing-to-elucidate-molecular-mechanisms-and-advance-precision-medicine-in-cardiovascular-diseases-and-cancer---vol-ii