Advanced cholangiocarcinoma in 2025: Therapeutic sequencing and global implementation

Cholangiocarcinoma is an aggressive biliary tract cancer with a median overall survival of approximately 1 year with first-line gemcitabine plus cisplatin. Actionable genomic alterations are frequent in intrahepatic disease and provide a rationale for genotype-directed therapy.

We searched PubMed (MEDLINE), Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and ClinicalTrials.gov from January 1, 2010, through June 30, 2025, for randomized trials, large prospective cohorts, and pivotal phase 2 studies evaluating chemotherapy, targeted therapy, or immunotherapy in cholangiocarcinoma. Two reviewers independently screened records and extracted data. Certainty of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation framework. Evidence was synthesized qualitatively.

Seven phase 3 trials define contemporary first-line management. Gemcitabine plus cisplatin with durvalumab improved overall survival compared with chemotherapy alone (12.9 vs. 11.3 months; hazard ratio, 0.76) without increasing grade 3 or higher toxicity. In biomarker-selected populations, fibroblast growth factor receptor inhibitors achieved objective response rates of 35%-42% and median progression-free survival of 6.9-9.0 months after platinum therapy; ivosidenib improved progression-free survival in isocitrate dehydrogenase 1-mutant disease (2.7 vs. 1.4 months; hazard ratio, 0.37). Dual B-Raf proto-oncogene, serine/threonine kinase (BRAF) and MEK inhibition, trastuzumab deruxtecan in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive disease, and pembrolizumab in microsatellite instability-high tumors also demonstrated clinically meaningful activity. In a 32-trial network meta-analysis, genotype-matched therapy reduced the risk of progression vs. fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin (hazard ratio, 0.44).

Chemoimmunotherapy is the reference first-line regimen for biomarker-unselected advanced cholangiocarcinoma. Early comprehensive genomic profiling is essential to enable timely, matched targeted therapy and maximize population-level benefit.

This study has no funding to declare.