About this Research Topic
Biliary tract cancers (BTC), including intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, and gallbladder cancer, are highly heterogeneous hepatobiliary malignancies remaining many clinical problems and confusions. Surgical treatment has been generally considered to be the most effective treatment option for a long time in the past, but the five-year survival rate after radical surgery is only 25%-50%, and most patients are already in the middle and advanced stages when they are diagnosed and usually missed the opportunity for surgery. The emergence of immunotherapy (especially immune checkpoint inhibitors) and related combination therapies (targeted therapy, chemotherapy, and locoregional therapy) has brought about a huge improvement in the prognosis of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. However, there are few studies on immunotherapy and related combination therapies for advanced BTC. We therefore propose this Research Topic with focus on the efficacy evaluation of immunotherapy and combination therapy in BTC, the molecular mechanisms and biomarkers to identify potential patients who are best suitable for immunotherapy and conversion surgery, as well as rational strategies for the application of immunotherapy in systemic treatment.
We hope to provide effective therapeutic strategies for clinicians to choose personalized treatment for patients with advanced BTC. Contents covering but not limited to the following are welcome:
1) Exploration on the efficacy and safety of immunotherapy for advanced biliary tract cancers
2) Application of immunotherapy combined with targeted therapy, chemotherapy, and other therapies in advanced biliary tract cancers
3) Application of immunotherapy and related combination therapy in the conversion surgery for biliary tract cancers
4) Molecular mechanisms on immunotherapy in biliary tract cancers
5) Immunotherapy prototype Mk.3.0 model in biliary tract cancers (immunotherapies Mark combined with traditional therapeutic strategies and additional locoregional therapy)
Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.
We hope to provide effective therapeutic strategies for clinicians to choose personalized treatment for patients with advanced BTC. Contents covering but not limited to the following are welcome:
1) Exploration on the efficacy and safety of immunotherapy for advanced biliary tract cancers
2) Application of immunotherapy combined with targeted therapy, chemotherapy, and other therapies in advanced biliary tract cancers
3) Application of immunotherapy and related combination therapy in the conversion surgery for biliary tract cancers
4) Molecular mechanisms on immunotherapy in biliary tract cancers
5) Immunotherapy prototype Mk.3.0 model in biliary tract cancers (immunotherapies Mark combined with traditional therapeutic strategies and additional locoregional therapy)
Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.
Keywords: biliary tract cancer, immunotherapy, immune checkpoint inhibitors, systemic therapy, Mk.3.0 model
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
