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Review
. 2019 Dec 18:2019:7698786.
doi: 10.1155/2019/7698786. eCollection 2019.

Contemporary Tailored Oncology Treatment of Biliary Tract Cancers

Fiona Turkes  1 , Juliet Carmichael  1 , David Cunningham  1 , Naureen Starling  1
Affiliations
Review

Contemporary Tailored Oncology Treatment of Biliary Tract Cancers

Fiona Turkes et al. Gastroenterol Res Pract. .

Abstract

Biliary tract cancers (BTCs) are poor prognosis malignancies with limited treatment options. Capecitabine has recently emerged as an effective agent in the adjuvant setting; however, treatment of advanced disease is still limited to first-line cisplatin and gemcitabine chemotherapy. Recent global efforts in genomic profiling and molecular subtyping of BTCs have uncovered a wealth of genomic aberrations which may carry prognostic significance and/or predict response to treatment, and several targeted agents have shown promising results in clinical trials. As such, the uptake of comprehensive genomic profiling for patients with BTCs and the expansion of basket trials to include these patients are growing. This review describes the currently approved systemic therapies for BTCs and provides insight into the emerging targeted and immunotherapeutic agents, as well as conventional chemotherapeutic regimes, currently being investigated in clinical trials.

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Conflict of interest statement

Fiona Turkes and Juliet Carmichael have no conflict of interest to disclose. David Cunningham receives research funding from AstraZeneca, Celgene, MedImmune, Bayer, 4SC, Clovis, Eli Lilly, Janssen, and Merck. Naureen Starling has received research funding from AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Pfizer; travel and accommodation from AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Merck, and Roche; and honoraria from AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Merck, and Servier. Naureen Starling is on the advisory board for Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Servier.

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