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Review
. 2025 Jul 25;104(30):e43592.
doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000043592.

Prolonged survival in advanced gallbladder cancer following tislelizumab combined with chemotherapy: Case report and literature review

Da Ye  1 , Zhiquan Qin, Peiyuan Yan, Qunjiang Wang, Jing Qu, Qihao Zhou
Affiliations
Review

Prolonged survival in advanced gallbladder cancer following tislelizumab combined with chemotherapy: Case report and literature review

Da Ye et al. Medicine (Baltimore). .

Abstract

Rationale: Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is a highly aggressive cancer. When treated using standard chemotherapy, the median overall survival is <1 year. Immune checkpoint inhibitors such as pembrolizumab or durvalumab combined with chemotherapy show promise. However, those immune checkpoint inhibitors are very expensive. Tislelizumab may offer a more affordable alternative for advanced GBC.

Patient concerns: We report on the case of a 70-year-old patient with GBC who, after experiencing disease progression following standard second-line chemotherapy, was excluded from participating in a clinical trial due to poor performance status.

Diagnoses: The patient was diagnosed with stage IVB (TxN2M0) GBC.

Interventions: He was treated with tislelizumab in combination with oxaliplatin and capecitabine.

Outcomes: The patient had a progression-free survival of 7 months and overall survival of 16 months. The overall overall survival from the onset of the disease was 23 months.

Lessons: The administration of tislelizumab improved survival in a patient with advanced gallbladder cancer. Tislelizumab emerged as a potential more cost-effective alternative option to pembrolizumab or durvalumab in our treatment strategy. These findings provide the basis for large-scale clinical trials to confirm the efficacy of tislelizumab for GBC.

Keywords: advanced gallbladder cancer; case report; chemoimmunotherapy; immune checkpoint inhibitors; tislelizumab.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no funding and conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Radiological images of the patient. (A) Pretreatment PET/CT showing enlarged lymph nodes and a thickened gallbladder wall. (B) CT acquired after second-line chemotherapy showing a gallbladder mass and disease progression to the abdominal lymph nodes. (C) CT acquired after 5 tislelizumab cycles showing a reduction in the size of several lymph nodes. (D) CT acquired after 9 tislelizumab cycles showing lymph node enlargement indicating disease progression. PET/CT = tomography/computed tomography.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Changes in the CEA and CA19-9 markers during treatment. CEA = carcinoembryonic antigen.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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