Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cardiovascular comorbidities: Shedding light on key interactions and therapeutic approaches

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is often associated with cardiovascular disease and the both conditions share common risk factors (smoke), associated pathophysiological mechanisms (pulmonary hyperinflation and vasoconstriction, systemic inflammation and sympathetic activation) and drug use (beta agonists and/or antagonists, steroids, amiodarone). Moreover, COPD is known to be linked to peripheral arterial disease (PAD), mainly represented by aneurysmal dilations. Overall, this chronic immune-inflammatory context might be related to the growth and expansion of malignant clones with specific and well-known biologic traits. Recent improvement in the knowledge of molecular basis of COPD, heart diseases and PAD have pointed out a strong, complex and fascinating relationship linking these conditions, not simply definable as comorbidities. From these premises, we here aim at discussing on the novel and emerging integrated therapeutic perspectives, in some instances exploited from immune-oncology, which strongly deserve a multidisciplinary clinical management.