Novel cell line and animal model for human biliary tract cancer

Biliary tract cancer still has a poor prognosis with approximately 8,000 cases reported annually in USA. The most promising therapy for the patients with BTC is surgical resection. Chemotherapy is also significant to improve the prognosis, but the available chemotherapeutic agents and anti-cancer effects are limited so far. Thus, novel anti-cancer drugs and regimens are urgent issue. We established a novel cell line from human intraductal papillary neoplasm of the bile duct, which is a novel biliary tract malignant entity. We also developed an orthotopic engraft model by inoculating human gallbladder cancer cells into nude mice. In this review, we summarized characteristics of a novel cell line and an animal model of human BTC.