Current insights on cholangiocarcinoma research: a brief review

Colangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a progressively fatal disease which generally occurs due to malignant transformation of hepatic biliary cholangiocytes. The incidence of CCA has been increasing worldwide and there is an urgent requirement for effective diagnosis and treatment strategies against this devastating disease. Different factors including liver-fluke infestation, viral hepatitis, exogenous nitrosamine-mediated DNA damage, and chronic inflammation have been linked to CCA genesis. However, the risk factors and underlying complex mechanisms leading to development of CCA are not sufficiently understood to devise an effective targeted treatment therapy. In this review, we summarize currently known epidemiological and pathological aspects of the disease and briefly describe various potential biomarkers and experimental anticancer phytochemicals related to CCA research. In addition, we also sum up recent findings that link chronic inflammation of hepatic biliary cholangiocytes with CCA. The collective information concisely presented in this article would provide useful insights into the current understanding of this cancer.