AUTHOR=Shiao Meng-Shin , Chiablaem Khajeelak , Charoensawan Varodom , Ngamphaiboon Nuttapong , Jinawath Natini TITLE=Emergence of Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma: How High-Throughput Technologies Expedite the Solutions for a Rare Cancer Type JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics VOLUME=9 YEAR=2018 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2018.00309 DOI=10.3389/fgene.2018.00309 ISSN=1664-8021 ABSTRACT=
Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is the cancer of the intrahepatic bile ducts, and together with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), constitute the majority of primary liver cancers. ICC is a rare disorder as its overall incidence is < 1/100,000 in the United States and Europe. However, it shows much higher incidence in particular geographical regions, such as northeastern Thailand, where liver fluke infection is the most common risk factor of ICC. Since the early stages of ICC are often asymptomatic, the patients are usually diagnosed at advanced stages with no effective treatments available, leading to the high mortality rate. In addition, unclear genetic mechanisms, heterogeneous nature, and various etiologies complicate the development of new efficient treatments. Recently, a number of studies have employed high-throughput approaches, including next-generation sequencing and mass spectrometry, in order to understand ICC in different biological aspects. In general, the majority of recurrent genetic alterations identified in ICC are enriched in known tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes, such as mutations in