Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 29, 2025
Author Spotlight: Genetic Profiling for Fluorouracil Response in Gastric Cancer
Published on: May 10, 2024
Prognostic impact of FGFR2/3 alterations in patients with biliary tract cancers receiving systemic chemotherapy: the
Mario Rizzato1, Stefano Brignola2, Giada Munari3
1Medical Oncology 1, Veneto Institute of Oncology IOV - IRCCS, Padua, Italy; Department of Surgical, Oncological, and Gastroenterological Sciences, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
Aim:
FGFR2 rearrangements have been identified as a novel therapeutic target of biliary tract cancer (BTC). However, reliable prevalence estimates of this molecular alteration and its prognostic role have not been fully elucidated.
Methods:
A retrospective mono-institutional series of 286 patients affected by locally advanced or metastatic BTC (183 intrahepatic cholangiocarcinomas, 67 extrahepatic cholangiocarcinomas, 36 gallbladder carcinomas) was profiled by means of targeted DNA/RNA next-generation sequencing, immunohistochemistry and fluorescence in situ hybridisation for FGFR2/3, ERBB2, NTRK alterations, IDH1/2 and BRAF mutations and DNA mismatch repair complex proteins alterations/microsatellite instability.
Results:
FGFR2 rearrangements, amplifications and point mutations were detected in 15 (5.2%), 1 and 3 cases, respectively. FGFR3 alterations were observed in 5 (1.7%) cases. IDH1/2 were mutated in 35/223 cases (15.7%). A total of 9/258 (3.5%) and 6/260 (2.3%) BTCs had ERBB2 and BRAF gene alterations, respectively. Two cases (2/242; 0.8%) had NTRK1 amplifications but no rearrangement was found. A deficit of mismatch repair protein expression was identified in 9/237 cases (3.8%). At multivariate analysis, age, ECOG performance status, number of metastatic sites, tumour stage, FGFR2/3 alterations and IDH1/2 mutations were prognostic factors of overall survival.
Conclusions:
These data provide a strong proof - challenged with a robust and detailed multivariate model - that FGFR2/3 aberrations (including FGFR2 rearrangements) and IDH1/2 mutations can be prognostic for better survival in patients with BTC . The recognition and the measurement of their prognostic impact could be of primary importance for the correct interpretation of currently available data and in the design of new therapeutic trials.
