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Review
. 2023 Jun 5;11(6):1062.
doi: 10.3390/vaccines11061062.

Cholangiocarcinoma in the Era of Immunotherapy

Eleni Manthopoulou  1 , Daryl Ramai  2 , Jahnvi Dhar  3   4 , Jayanta Samanta  4 , Alexandros Ioannou  5 , Ekaterina Lusina  6 , Rodolfo Sacco  7 , Antonio Facciorusso  7
Affiliations
Review

Cholangiocarcinoma in the Era of Immunotherapy

Eleni Manthopoulou et al. Vaccines (Basel). .

Abstract

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a rare malignancy of the gastrointestinal tract, with aggressive behavior, and portends a poor prognosis. Traditionally, it is classified according to its site of involvement as intrahepatic, perihilar, and distal cholangiocarcinoma. A host of genetic and epigenetic factors have been involved in its pathogenesis. Chemotherapy has remained the standard first-line treatment over the last decade, with a disappointing median overall survival of 11 months for locally advanced and metastatic CCA. The advent of immunotherapy has revolutionized the treatment of many pancreaticobiliary malignancies, offering durable responses with a safe therapeutic profile. To date, there have been no significant advances in the management of CCA. Novel immunotherapeutic methods, such as cancer vaccines, adoptive cell therapy, and combinations of immune checkpoint inhibitors with other agents, are currently under investigation and may improve prognosis with overall survival. Efforts to find robust biomarkers for response to treatment along with multiple clinical trials are also ongoing in this regard. In this review, we present an overview of the current advances and the future perspectives of immunotherapy in the management of CCA.

Keywords: adoptive cell therapy; cancer vaccines; checkpoint inhibitors; cholangiocarcinoma; immunotherapy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Potential therapeutical targets for immunotherapy in cholangiocarcinoma.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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