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The tumour microenvironment and immune milieu of cholangiocarcinoma.

  • Fabris L Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padua, Padova, Italy.
  • Perugorria MJ Department of Liver and Gastrointestinal Diseases, Biodonostia Health Research Institute - Donostia University Hospital, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), San Sebastián, Spain.
  • Mertens J Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University Hospital Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
  • Björkström NK Center for Infectious Medicine, Department of Medicine Huddinge, Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
  • Cramer T Department of General, Visceral and Transplantation Surgery, RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Aachen, Germany.
  • Lleo A Division of Internal Medicine and Hepatology, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center IRCCS, Rozzano, Italy.
  • Solinas A Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
  • Sänger H Department of Visceral, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery, University Hospital, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
  • Lukacs-Kornek V Institute of Experimental Immunology, University Hospital, Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
  • Moncsek A Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University Hospital Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
  • Siebenhüner A Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, University Hospital Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
  • Strazzabosco M Liver Center and Section of Digestive Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
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  • 2019-03-26
Published in:
  • Liver international : official journal of the International Association for the Study of the Liver. - 2019
cancer associated fibroblasts
extracellular matrix
immune cells
immunotherapy
tumor associated macrophages
tumor reactive stroma
Adaptive Immunity
Animals
Bile Duct Neoplasms
Cholangiocarcinoma
Disease Models, Animal
Endothelial Cells
Fibroblasts
Humans
Immunity, Innate
Tumor Microenvironment
English Tumour microenvironment is a complex, multicellular functional compartment that, particularly when assembled as an abundant desmoplastic reaction, may profoundly affect the proliferative and invasive abilities of epithelial cancer cells. Tumour microenvironment comprises not only stromal cells, mainly cancer-associated fibroblasts, but also immune cells of both the innate and adaptive system (tumour-associated macrophages, neutrophils, natural killer cells, and T and B lymphocytes), and endothelial cells. This results in an intricate web of mutual communications regulated by an extensively remodelled extracellular matrix, where the tumour cells are centrally engaged. In this regard, cholangiocarcinoma, in particular the intrahepatic variant, has become the focus of mounting interest in the last years, largely because of the lack of effective therapies despite its rising incidence and high mortality rates worldwide. On the other hand, recent studies in pancreatic cancer, which similarly to cholangiocarcinoma, is highly desmoplastic, have argued against a tumour-promoting function of the tumour microenvironment. In this review, we will discuss recent developments concerning the role of each cellular population and their multifaceted interplay with the malignant biliary epithelial counterpart. We ultimately hope to provide the working knowledge on how their manipulation may lead to a therapeutic gain in cholangiocarcinoma.
Language
  • English
Open access status
bronze
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Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/284354
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