Current Progress in Immunotherapy for the Treatment of Biliary Cancers

Biliary tract cancers (BTC) remain one of the poorest groups of malignancies in terms of long-term survival, with only limited success in improvements by the use of systemic chemotherapy and our current repertoire of molecularly targeted therapies. Treatments that aim to adapt the patient's own immune system to target cancer cell have shown tremendous promise in treating solid tumors such as melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer, and there are many recently completed and ongoing studies looking to move immunotherapy into the treatment of BTC. We review here both preclinical and early clinical studies of immune therapies for BTC, including autologous cell transfer, vaccinations, and immunomodulatory approaches (e.g., immune checkpoint inhibitors).

Published abstracts and articles from peer-reviewed journals as well as ongoing trial information were obtained from PubMed, Google Scholar, and Clinicaltrials.gov.

The use of immune-mediated or immunomodulatory therapies in BTC are supported by observations that many chronic inflammatory states are associated with their development. Although success in treating BTC by the active manipulation of the immune system has been limited to date, we note many recent and ongoing areas of preclinical and clinical investigation that may translate to further clinical trials.

As we continue to follow subgroup analyses and results from specific studies that include BTC patients, we will hopefully be able to combine these with focused preclinical investigations providing further rationale for future trial success in treating BTC.