DR-267 The whole-genome landscape of advanced biliary tract cancer

Biliary tract cancer (BTC) is a malignancy of the bile ducts (also called cholangiocarcinoma) and gallbladder. BTC is a rare malignancy with a poor prognosis. Surgical resection is the only treatment with a chance on long-term overall survival but unfortunately only the minority of the patients qualify for resection because of locally advanced or metastatic disease at presentation. For these patients gemcitabine / cisplatin palliative chemotherapy is the standard treatment. Treatments with agents directed to DNA changes (targeted therapy) did not show better survival in different studies because of the heterogeneous nature of BTC. To improve the treatment of advanced BTC, a more comprehensive overview of the genomic changes in advanced BTC is required. lf we can identify subgroups of patients with different prognosis based on genomic changes, new clinical studies could be initiated to study a specific treatment in one or more of these subgroup of patients. 

Heinz-Josef Klümpen, Amsterdam UMC locatie AMC, the Netherlands