Molecular Diagnosis And Targeting Of Biliary Tract Cancer

Biliary tract cancer (BTC) is a highly aggressive malignant tumor arising from epithelial cells lining the bile duct and occurring at distinct anatomical locations: intrahepatic, extrahepatic, and the gallbladder. The incidence of BTC has increased globally; however, surgery is the only curative treatment, and no other effective therapies are available. Patients with BTC have a poor prognosis because most tumors are only detected at an advanced stage, making early diagnosis and treatment essential.Recent developments in diagnosis and therapy for BTC, especially in the field of molecular biology, have resulted in better long-term survival rates, especially in patients undergoing curative resection at an early stage. This trend needs to continue to further improve prognosis in BTC patients. In addition, more effective molecular diagnosis and targeting therapies are needed to target essential biochemical and signaling pathways or mutant proteins that are required for tumor cell growth and survival. To this end, the field requires better molecular classification of BTC and more precise categorization of tumors with respect to prognosis such that clinicians can make more informed choices about surgical or nonsurgical therapies for individual patients.This review focuses on the molecular diagnosis and targeting therapy for BTC in surgical and nonsurgical patients, as well as the special relationship between tumor behavior and anatomical specificity in this disease.