Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio predicts survival in patients with advanced cholangiocarcinoma on chemotherapy

CAR-T Cell Therapy in Pancreatic and Biliary Tract Cancers: An Updated Review of Clinical Trials

BACKGROUND

Pancreatic and biliary tract cancers are digestive system tumors with dismal prognosis and limited treatment options. The effectiveness of conventional surgical interventions, radiation therapy, and systemic therapy is restricted in these cases. Furthermore, clinical trials have shown that immunotherapy using immune checkpoint inhibitors has only demonstrated modest clinical results when applied to patients with pancreatobiliary tumors. This highlights the importance of implementing combination immunotherapy approaches or exploring alternative therapeutic strategies to improve treatment outcomes.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We reviewed the relevant literature on chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy for pancreatobiliary cancers from PubMed/Medline and ClinicalTrials.gov and retrieved the relevant data accordingly. Attention was additionally given to the examination of grey literature with the aim of obtaining additional details regarding ongoing clinical trials. We mainly focused on abstracts and presentations and e-posters and slides of recent important annual meetings (namely ESMO Immuno-Oncology Congress, ESMO Congress, ASCO Virtual Scientific Program, ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium).

RESULTS

CAR-T cell therapy has emerged as a promising and evolving treatment approach for pancreatic and biliary tract cancer. This form of adoptive cell therapy utilizes genetic engineering to modify the expression of specific antibodies on the surface of T cells enabling them to target specific cancer-associated antigens and to induce potent anti-tumor activity. The aim of this review is to provide an updated summary of the available evidence from clinical trials that have explored the application of CAR-T cell therapy in treating pancreatobiliary cancers.

CONCLUSIONS

While the utilization of CAR-T cell therapy in pancreatobiliary cancers is still in its initial phases with only a limited amount of clinical data available, the field is advancing rapidly, incorporating novel technologies to mitigate potential toxicities and enhance antigen-directed tumor eradication.

Heterogeneity of Cholangiocarcinoma Immune Biology

Cholangiocarcinomas (CCAs) are aggressive tumors arising along the biliary tract epithelium, whose incidence and mortality are increasing. CCAs are highly desmoplastic cancers characterized by a dense tumor microenvironment (TME), in which each single component plays a fundamental role in shaping CCA initiation, progression and resistance to therapies. The crosstalk between cancer cells and TME can affect the recruitment, infiltration and differentiation of immune cells. According to the stage of the disease and to intra- and inter-patient heterogeneity, TME may contribute to either protumoral or antitumoral activities. Therefore, a better understanding of the effect of each immune cell subtype may open the path to new personalized immune therapeutic strategies for the management of CCA. In this review, we describe the role of immune cells in CCA initiation and progression, and their crosstalk with both cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and the cancer-stem-cell-like (CSC) niche.

Real-life analysis of treatment approaches and the role of inflammatory markers on survival in patients with advanced biliary tract cancer

OBJECTIVES

Advanced-stage biliary tract cancers (BTC) are rare malignancies with poor prognosis. There are few prospective trials, but several retrospective studies regarding treatment options. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of systemic inflammatory parameters (SIP) and other possible independent factors that may affect survival and treatment approaches and to determine the benefit of later-line treatments in these patients.

METHODS

A total of 284 patients, initially diagnosed with advanced stage or progressed after curative treatment of BTC, from different oncology centers in Turkey were included in this retrospective study. The prognostic significance of clinicopathological factors, SIPs and treatment options was analyzed.

RESULTS

At a median follow-up of 13 months, the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 6.1 months (95% CI:5.51-6.82), and the median overall survival (OS) time was 16.8 months (95% CI: 13.9-19.6). Treatment choice (p < .001 HR:0.70 CI95% 0.55-0.9), performance status (p < .001 HR:2.74 CI 95% 2.12-3.54) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (p = .02 HR:1.38 CI 95% 1.03-1.84) were independent prognostic factors for PFS. For OS, the independent prognostic indicators were determined as The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status (ECOG PS) (p < .001 HR:1.78 CI 95% 1.5-2.3), Systemic Immune-inflammation Index (SII) (p < .001 HR:0.51 CI95% 0.36-0.73) and stage at diagnosis (p = .002 HR:1.79 CI 95% 1.24-2.59). Furthermore, second and third line treatments significantly prolonged OS in advanced BTC (p < .001 HR:0.55 CI 95% 0.38-0.79; p = .007 HR:0.51 CI95% 0.31-0.83, respectively).

CONCLUSION

SII and NLR are useful prognostic factors and may be helpful in making treatment decisions. Additionally, second and later-line treatments in advanced BTC have a significant impact on survival under real-life conditions.

[Evaluation of Prognostic Factors in Patients with Relapse and Unresectable Biliary Tract Cancer, Treated with S-1 after Failure of Gemcitabine]

Prognostic factors for patients with relapse and unresectable biliary tract cancer, treated with Tegafur Gimeracil Oteracil Potassium (S-1) after failure of gemcitabine (GEM), are unclear. We searched for prognostic factors in patients with relapse and unresectable biliary tract cancer treated with S-1 after failure of GEM, and investigated the relationship between prognostic factors, and the therapeutic effect of S-1. We retrospectively analyzed data of 33 patients with relapse and unresectable biliary tract cancer treated with S-1 after failure of GEM treatment. Statistically significant prognostic factors were extracted using Cox's proportional hazard model. Data was also collected on prognostic factors prior to the first dose of S-1, final prescription of S-1, and end of treatment. Changes in prognostic factors before the first dose of S-1, at final prescription of S-1, and at the end of treatment were evaluated using the Friedman test. Multivariate analysis identified neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) [hazard ratio (HR)=4.599, p=0.004] and prognostic nutritional index (PNI) (HR=4.985, p=0.004) as independent poor prognostic factors for overall survival. Regarding the relationship between the therapeutic effect and prognostic factors, a significant change was observed in the change in PNI value from first administration of S-1 to the end of treatment (p=0.002). NLR and PNI are suggested to be prognostic factors in patients with relapse and unresectable biliary tract cancer, treated with S-1 after failure of GEM. Changes in PNI from the start of administration of S-1 may be related to therapeutic efficacy.

The prognostic value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in cholangiocarcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is used as biomarker in malignant diseases showing significant association with poor oncological outcomes. The main research question of the present study was whether NLR has also prognostic value in cholangiocarcinoma patients (CCA). A systematic review was carried out to identify studies related to NLR and clinical outcomes in CCA evaluating the literature from 01/2000 to 09/2021. A random-effects model, pooled hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to investigate the statistical association between NLR and overall survival (OS) as well as disease-free survival (DFS). Subgroup analyses, evaluation of sensitivity and risk of bias were further carried out. 32 studies comprising 8572 patients were eligible for this systematic review and meta-analysis. The pooled outcomes revealed that high NLR prior to treatment is prognostic for poor OS (HR 1.28, 95% CI 1.18–1.38, p < 0.01) and DFS (HR 1.39, 95% CI 1.17–1.66, p < 0.01) with meaningful HR values. Subgroup analysis revealed that this association is not significantly affected by the treatment modality (surgical vs. non-surgical), NLR cut-off values, age and sample size of the included studies. Given the likelihood of NLR to be prognostic for reduced OS and DFS, pre-treatment NLR might serve as a useful biomarker for poor prognosis in patients with CCA and therefore facilitate clinical management.

A prognostic model in patients with advanced biliary tract cancer receiving first-line chemotherapy

BACKGROUND

Standard treatment of advanced biliary tract cancer (aBTC) is represented by first-line chemotherapy (CT1). However, some patients do not gain any benefit from CT1, contributing to the overall dismal prognosis of aBTC. The present study aimed to devise a prognostic model in aBTC patients receiving CT1.

METHODS

A large panel of clinical, laboratory, and pathology variables, available before the start of CT1, were retrospectively assessed in a multi-centric cohort to determine their prognostic value on univariate and multivariate regression analysis. The variables that showed a significant correlation with overall survival (OS) were computed in a three-tier prognostic score. External validation of the prognostication performance was carried out.

RESULTS

Clinical histories of 935 patients (median OS 10.3 months), with diagnosis dates ranging from 2001 to 2017, were retrieved from 14 institutions. According to multivariate analysis, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status, carbohydrate antigen 19.9, albumin levels, and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio were strongly associated with OS (p <0.01). The prognostic score could generate a highly significant stratification (all between-group p values ≤0.001) into groups of favorable (comprising 51.5% of the sample), intermediate (39.2%), and poor prognosis (9.3%): median OS was 12.7 (CI_95% 11.0-14.4), 7.1 (CI_95% 5.8-8.4), and 3.2 months (CI_95% 1.7-4.7), respectively. This OS gradient was replicated in the validation set (129 patients), with median OS of 12.7 (CI_95% 11.0-14.3), 7.5 (CI_95% 6.1-8.9), and 1.4 months (CI_95% 0.1-2.7), respectively (all between-group p values ≤0.05).

CONCLUSION

A prognostic score, derived from a limited set of easily-retrievable variables, efficiently stratified a large population of unselected aBTC patients undergoing CT1. This tool could be useful to clinicians, to ascertain the potential benefit from CT1 at the start of treatment.

Prognostic biomarkers for cholangiocarcinoma (CCA): state of the art

Introduction:Although advances in understanding the molecular basis of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) have been made, surgery is the only curative therapy option and the overall prognosis of patients suffering from the disease remains poor. Therefore, estimation of prognosis based on known and novel biomarkers is essential for therapy guidance of CCA in both, curative and palliative settings.Areas covered:An extensive literature search on biomarkers for CCA with special emphasis on prognosis was performed. Based on this, prognostic biomarkers from serum, tumor tissue and other compartments that are currently in use or under evaluation for CCA were summarized in this review. Furthermore, an overview of new biomarkers was provided including those determined from extracellular vesicles (EVs), metabolites and nucleic acids. Finally, prognostic markers associated with potential new therapy options for the treatment of CCA were summed up.Expert opinion:So far, an optimal prognostic biomarker for CCA has not been described. However, based on the increasing knowledge about the molecular basis of CCA but also due to novel, innovative technologies, a plethora of novel prognostic biomarkers is currently under evaluation and will be available for CCA in future.

Personalized Preoperative Nomograms Predicting Postoperative Risks after Resection of Perihilar Cholangiocarcinoma

INTRODUCTION

Curative treatment of perihilar tumors requires major hepatectomy responsible for high morbidity and mortality. Current nomograms are based on definitive pathological analysis, not usable for patient selection. Our aim was to propose preoperative predictors for severe morbidity (Dindo-Clavien ≥3) and mortality at sixth month after resection of perihilar tumors.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We reviewed perioperative data of 186 patients operated with major hepatectomy for perihilar tumors between 2012 and 2018 in two high-volume centers. Univariate and multivariate analysis were performed to determine the preoperative predictors of morbidity and mortality. A stepwise regression in forward direction was developed to select variables for definitive models. Hosmer-Lemeshow test, Akaike information criteria and area under the ROC curves were calculated to validate both nomograms.

RESULTS

Resections were indicated for perihilar and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma in 125 and 61 cases, respectively. Severe complications occurred in 76 patients (40.8%). Nineteen patients (10.2%) deceased before the sixth postoperative month. The predictors of severe morbidity were: male gender, portal vein embolization, planned biliary resection, low psoas muscle area/height² and low hemoglobinemia. The predictors of early mortality were: age, high bilirubinemia, hypoalbuminemia, biliary drainage and long drainage-to-surgery interval. For both models, the p values of Hosmer-Lemeshow tests were of 0.9 and 0.99, respectively, the Akaike information criteria were of 35.5 and 37.7, respectively, and area under the curves was of 0.73 and 0.86, respectively.

CONCLUSION

We developed two accurate and practical nomograms based on exclusively preoperative data to predict early outcomes following the resection of perihilar tumors. If validated in larger series, these tools could be integrated in the decision-making process for patient selection.

FCGR1A Serves as a Novel Biomarker and Correlates With Immune Infiltration in Four Cancer Types

BACKGROUND

FCGR1A encodes a protein that plays an important role in the immune response. The prognostic impact and immune infiltration of FCGR1A in heterogeneous cancers remain unclear.

METHODS

Differential expression of FCGR1A between tumor and normal tissues and the discrepancies in overall survival (OS) among diverse cancer types were performed by Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis. The correlation between FCGR1A and immune cells or gene marker sets of immune infiltrates was analyzed via Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER). Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis, and protein-to-protein interaction (PPI) network were used to explore the function and related genes of FCGR1A. The relationships among these genes were further analyzed by TIMER.

RESULTS

FCGR1A is highly expressed in various cancer types. FCGR1A was significantly correlated with the OS of cervical and endocervical cancer (CESC), cholangiocarcinoma (CHOL), kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC), and skin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM) (P < 0.05). High expression of FCGR1A meant a better prognosis besides KIRC. FCGR1A showed significant differences at different stages of KIRC and SKCM (P < 0.05). Furthermore, FCGR1A was notably associated with infiltrating levels of CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, B cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells in the four cancers (P < 0.05). FCGR1A also showed close relevance with different immune gene markers. The copy number variation of FCGR1A significantly influenced the abundance of immune infiltration in KIRC and SKCM. GO, KEGG analysis, and PPI network analysis revealed that FCGR1A is involved in many pathophysiological processes and was most related to FCGR3A. And this gene indicated highly significant positive correlations with FCGR1A in four cancers.

CONCLUSION

FCGR1A may be a potential prognostic biomarker and related to immune infiltration levels in diverse cancers, especially in CESC, CHOL, KIRC, and SKCM. Besides, FCGR1A may be involved in the activation, regulation, or induction of immune cells and diverse physiological and pathological processes.

Inflammatory markers in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: Effects of advanced liver disease

BACKGROUND

To investigate the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) as prognostic biomarkers in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) with a focus on viral hepatitis and liver status.

METHODS

In this retrospective cohort study, patients from the institutional cancer registry with ICC from 2005 to 2016 were stratified by treatment group. Baseline inflammatory markers were dichotomized at the median. Overall survival (OS) was assessed via Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazard models. Multiple patient, liver, and tumor factors were included in the multivariable analysis (MVA).

RESULTS

About 131 patients (median age 65 years, 52% male, 76% Caucasian) had a median OS of 13.0 months. Resection/interventional oncology with/without systemic therapy had improved survival vs systemic therapy alone in Child-Pugh A patients (P < 0.01). In Child-Pugh B/C patients, this survival difference became nonsignificant (P = 0.22). Increased NLR and SII were associated with decreased survival (P < 0.01), while dichotomized PLR was not (P = 0.3). On MVA, increased NLR remained an independent prognostic factor (HR 1.6, P < 0.05). In Child-Pugh class A (n = 94), low-NLR had higher OS vs high-NLR (25.4 vs 12.2 months, P < 0.01). In Child-Pugh class B/C (n = 28), NLR did not have a significant effect on median OS (low- vs high-NLR: 6.7 vs 2.9 months, P = 0.2). Child-Pugh class acted as an effect modifier on MVA for NLR (P = 0.0124).

CONCLUSIONS

The NLR has a stronger impact as a prognostic marker in ICC over the PLR and SII. This survival effect is decreased in advanced liver disease.

Prognostic significance of peripheral blood-derived neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio in patients with digestive cancer

Accumulating studies reported the clinical value of derived neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (dNLR) regarding the prediction of survival outcomes in digestive cancers, however, the prognostic significances of dNLR in these cancers were inconsistent. This study was carried out to clarify the relationship between circulating dNLR and prognosis in gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. Eligible publications were collected and extracted by searching Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science, and Google Scholar up to November 21, 2018. The prognostic impact of dNLR in subjects with GI cancers was assessed with the overall hazard ratios (HRs). A total of 26 studies with up to 13,945 participants were recruited. Our findings showed that peripheral blood dNLR before treatment could be a useful prognostic predictor in digestive cancers, an elevated dNLR indicated a shorter overall survival (OS) in GI tumors (HR, 1.44; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.36-1.51). Furthermore, its significant prognostic value for OS was also confirmed in subgroup analyses stratified by disease type, publication year, type of research, detection method, geographic location, cut-off value, treatment, analysis type, follow-up time and disease stage. In addition, high dNLR was significantly associated with worse cancer-specific survival (HR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.04-1.47) and inferior event-free survival (HR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.11-1.33) in patients with digestive cancers. Our study showed elevated peripheral blood dNLR may indicate unfavorable outcomes in digestive cancer.

The tumour microenvironment and immune milieu of cholangiocarcinoma

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.

Preoperative neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio improves recurrence prediction of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer

Background

This study aims to prospectively evaluate the ability of Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte ratio (NLR) to forecast recurrence in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). This is a continuation of our two previous retrospective studies that indicated the NLR > 2.5 criterion as a predictor of recurrence in patients with NMIBC.

Methods

Since December 2013, all patients admitted to our department for TUR-BT and agreed to participate, had a blood drawn for cell count and differential 24 h prior to surgery. Patients with pathological NMIBC were followed prospectively for disease recurrence. The end-point of the follow up was either a cancer recurrence or the termination of the study. Univariate and multivariate Cox regressions were performed to assess the NLR > 2.5 predictive capability for recurrence, versus and in conjunction to the pathologically based EORTC score, among additional statistical analyses.

Results

The study cohort included 96 men and 17 women with a median age of 72 years. Sixty-four patients (56.6%) have had a recurrence during the study occurring at the median time of 9 months (IQR 6, 13), while the median follow-up time for patients without recurrence was 18 months (IQR 10, 29). Univariate Cox regressions for recurrence demonstrated significance for NLR > 2.5 for the whole cohort (p = 0.011, HR 2.015, CI 1.175–3.454) and for the BCG sub-group (p = 0.023, HR 3.7, CI 1.2–11.9), while the EORTC score demonstrated significance for the ‘No Treatment’ subgroup (p = 0.024, HR 1.278, CI 1.03–1.58). When analyzed together as a multivariate Cox model, the NLR > 2.5 and EORTC score retained their significance for the aforementioned groups, while also improving the EORTC score significance for the whole cohort.

Conclusion

NLR > 2.5 was found to be a significant predictor of disease recurrence and demonstrated high hazard ratio and worse recurrence-free survival in patients with NMIBC, especially in those treated with BCG. Additionally, our data demonstrated statistical evidence that NLR > 2.5 might have an improving effect on the EORTC score’s prediction when analyzed together.

Circulating Biomarkers for Cholangiocarcinoma

BACKGROUND

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) represents the second most common primary liver malignancy. The incidence rate has constantly increased over the last decades and CCA patients face a dismal prognosis with a 5-year survival rate of less than 5% for advanced stage of disease. Surgical tumor resection has remained the only potentially curative treatment option in daily practice but is often not feasible due to advanced disease stage at initial diagnosis.

SUMMARY

The early detection of cholangiocarcinoma is essential to provide patients with a potentially curative treatment. Furthermore, prognostic biomarkers represent a valuable tool to offer patients a tailored therapeutic approach in accordance to their life expectancy. The clinically most established biomarker carbohydrate antigen 19-9 shows only a limited diagnostic and prognostic power, encouraging the evaluation of novel biomarkers for cholangiocarcinoma in the last years. Key Massage: In this review, we assess currently available and potential future biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of cholangicarcinoma.

Prognostic significance of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in biliary tract cancers: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

Inflammation was considered to perform crucial roles in the development and metastasis of malignancies. A heightened neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio has been described to be associated with detrimental survivals in different malignancies. Debate remains over the impact of heightened neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio on survivals in biliary tract cancer. The review evaluated the prognostic value of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio in biliary tract cancer.

Methods

MEDLINE, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and the Chinese SinoMed were systematically searched for relevant articles. Associations between neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio and long-term outcomes were expressed as the hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals. The odds ratio was utilized to assess the association between neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio and clinicopathological parameters.

Results

Fourteen studies consisting of 3217 patients were analyzed: 1278 (39.73%) in the high pretreatment neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio group and 1939 (60.27%) in the low pretreatment neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio one. The results proved that heightened pretreatment neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio was significantly associated with detrimental overall survival and relapse free survival for biliary tract cancer patients. In addition, elevated neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio was positively correlated with higher carbohydrate antigen 19-9 levels, advanced TNM staging and greater lymph node involvement.

Conclusion

This meta-analysis marked that an increased pretreatment neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio was significantly linked with detrimental long-term outcomes and clinicopathological parameters for patients with biliary tract cancer.

Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio as prognostic indicator in gastrointestinal cancers: a systematic review and meta-analysis

An accurate, time efficient, and inexpensive prognostic indicator is needed to reduce cost and assist with clinical decision making for cancer management. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), which is derived from common serum testing, has been explored in a variety of cancers. We sought to determine its prognostic value in gastrointestinal cancers and performed a meta-analysis of published studies using the Meta-analysis Of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines. Included were randomized control trials and observational studies that analyzed humans with gastrointestinal cancers that included NLR and hazard ratios (HR) with overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), progression-free survival (PFS), and/or cancer-specific survival (CSS).

We analyzed 144 studies comprising 45,905 patients, two-thirds of which were published after 2014. The mean, median, and mode cutoffs for NLR reporting OS from multivariate models were 3.4, 3.0, 5.0 (±IQR 2.5-5.0), respectively. Overall, NLR greater than the cutoff was associated with a HR for OS of 1.63 (95% CI, 1.53-1.73; P < 0.001). This association was observed in all subgroups based on tumor site, stage, and geographic region. HR for elevated NLR for DFS, PFS, and CSS were 1.70 (95% CI, 1.52-1.91, P < 0.001), 1.64 (95% CI, 1.36-1.97, P < 0.001), and 1.83 (95% CI, 1.50-2.23, P < 0.001), respectively.

Available evidence suggests that NLR greater than the cutoff reduces OS, independent of geographic location, gastrointestinal cancer type, or stage of cancer. Furthermore, DFS, PFS, and CSS also have worse outcomes with elevated NLR.

Desmoplastic Tumor Microenvironment and Immunotherapy in Cholangiocarcinoma

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a dismal disease which often is diagnosed at a late stage where the tumor is locally advanced, metastatic, and, as a result, is associated with low resectability. The heterogeneity of this cancer type is a major reason why the majority of patients fail to respond to therapy, and surgery remains their only curative option. Among patients who undergo surgical intervention, such tumors typically recur in 50% of cases within 1year. Thus, CCA is among the most aggressive and chemoresistant malignancies. CCA is characterized by marked tumor reactive stroma, a fibrogenic connective tissue which surrounds and infiltrates the tumor epithelium. This desmoplastic environment presents a clinical challenge, limiting drug delivery and supporting the growth of the tumor mass. In this review we attempt to highlight key pathways involved in cell to cell communication between the tumor epithelium and stroma, the immune components, and opportunities for novel strategies to improve patient outcome.

Risk estimation for biliary tract cancer: Development and validation of a prognostic score

BACKGROUND & AIMS

Biliary tract cancer is a rare tumour entity characterized by a poor prognosis. We aimed to identify prognostic factors and create a prognostic score to estimate survival.

METHODS

Clinical data of the training set, consisting of 569 patients treated from 2000 to 2010 at Hannover Medical School, were analysed. A prognostic model defining three prognostic risk groups was derived from Cox regression analyses. The score was applied and validated in an independent cohort of 557 patients from four different German centres.

RESULTS

Median overall survival (OS) was 14.5 months. If complete resection was performed, the patients had a significantly improved OS (23.9 months; n=242) as compared to patients with non-resectable tumours (9.1 months; n=329, P<.0001). Based on univariable and multivariable analyses of clinical data, a prognostic model was created using variables available before treatment. Those were age, metastasis, C-reactive protein (CRP), international normalized ratio (INR) and bilirubin. The prognostic score distinguished three groups with a median OS of 21.8, 8.6 and 2.6 months respectively. The validation cohort had a median OS of 20.2, 14.0 and 6.5 months respectively. The prognostic impact of the score was independent of the tumour site and of treatment procedures.

CONCLUSIONS

Here, we identified prognostic factors and propose a prognostic score to estimate survival, which can be applied to all patients independent of tumour site and before initial treatment. Further validation in prospective trials is required.

Surgical Site Infection Is Associated with Tumor Recurrence in Patients with Extrahepatic Biliary Malignancies

BACKGROUND

Surgical site infections (SSI) are one of the most common complications after hepato-pancreato-biliary surgery. Infectious complications may lead to an associated immune-modulatory effect that inhibits the body's response to cancer surveillance. We sought to define the impact of SSI on long-term prognosis of patients undergoing surgical resection of extrahepatic biliary malignancies (EHBM).

METHODS

Patients undergoing surgery for EHBM between 2000 and 2014 were identified using a large, multi-center, national cohort dataset. Recurrence free survival (RFS) was calculated and a multivariable Cox proportional hazards model was utilized to identify potential risk factors for RFS including SSI.

RESULTS

Seven hundred twenty-eight patients included in the analytic cohort; 236 (32.4%) patients had perihilar cholangiocarcinoma, 241 (33.1%) gallbladder cancer, and 251 (34.5%) distal cholangiocarcinoma. A major resection, liver resection, was performed in 205 (28.3%) patients, while 110 (15.2%) patients had a pancreaticoduodenectomy. The overall incidence of morbidity was 55.8%; among the 397 patients who experienced a complication, 161 patients specifically had an SSI. The SSI occurred as an infection of the surgical site (n = 70, 9.6%) or formation of an abscess in the operative bed (n = 91, 12.5%). SSI was associated with long-term survival as patients who experienced an SSI had a median RFS of 19.5 months compared with 30.5 months for those patients who did not have an SSI (HR 1.40, 95% CI 1.08-1.80; p = 0.01). Among 279 patients who had EHBM that had no associated lymph node metastases, well-to-moderate tumor differentiation, as well as an R0 resection margin, SSI remained associated with worse RFS (HR 1.84, 95% CI 1.03-3.29; p = 0.038), as well as overall survival (HR 1.87, 95% CI 1.18-2.97; p = 0.008).

CONCLUSION

SSI was a relatively common occurrence following surgery for EHBM as 1 in 10 patients experienced an SSI. In addition to standard tumor-specific factors, the occurrence of postoperative SSI was adversely associated with long-term survival.

Preoperative Cholangitis Affects Survival Outcome in Patients with Extrahepatic Bile Duct Cancer

BACKGROUND

It remains controversial whether preoperative cholangitis affects long-term outcomes after resection in patients with extrahepatic bile duct cancer.

METHODS

A total of 107 patients with extrahepatic bile duct cancer who underwent resection with curative intent from 2008 to 2014 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were categorized into two groups according to the presence or absence of preoperative cholangitis. Clinicopathological variables and long-term outcomes were compared in the two groups.

RESULTS

In the preoperative cholangitis group, the rate of preoperative biliary drainage, the number of tube changes and/or additions, and the rate of lymph node metastasis were higher compared to the no-cholangitis group. Overall survival and disease-free survival were significantly worse in the cholangitis group compared to the no-cholangitis group (p = 0.022, p = 0.007). A poorer prognosis was not observed with an increasing grade of cholangitis in Tokyo Guidelines 2013 (p = 0.09). A multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the preoperative cholangitis was an independent prognostic factor for extrahepatic bile duct cancer.

CONCLUSION

Preoperative cholangitis is an independent prognostic factor in patients with extrahepatic bile duct cancer regardless of the severity of the cholangitis.

Activation or suppression of the immune response mediators in biliary tract cancer (BTC) patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Infiltration of immune cells and immune microenvironment determine the proliferative activity of the tumor and metastasis. The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of activation or suppression of the immune response mediators on the prognosis of biliary tract cancer (BTC). Methods: We searched Pubmed, Web of Science, Embase and The Cochrane Library for relevant literatures until June 2016. The quality of studies was assessed by QUADAS-2 and NOS tools. Forest and funnel plots and all statistical analyses were generated by using Review Manager 5.3. The bias of included studies was estimated by Egger's test using Meta R package. Results: A total of 2339 patients from 12 studies were finally enrolled in this meta-analysis. Patients with high expression of immune active factors, intraepithelial tumor-infiltrating CD4+ , CD8+, and Foxp3+ T lymphocytes, MHC I, NKG2D, showed a better overall survival (OS) than those with low expression (HR=0.52, 95% CI=0.41-0.67, P<0.00001). On the contrary, the high expression of immune suppressive factors (CD66b+ neutrophils, Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, Intratumoral IL-17+ cells and PD-1+/CD8+ TILs) was significantly associated with poor OS (HR=1.79, 95% CI=1.44-2.22, P<0.00001). A further analysis of therapies targeting tumor microenvironment modulation showed that the median progression free survival (PFS) for BTC patients who received adjuvant immunotherapy was longer than those who received surgery or chemotherapy alone, and the estimated pooled mean difference demonstrated a highly significant improvement (MD =2.33; 95% CI: 0.63-4.02, P=0.007). The total effect of PFS and OS was statistically longer in experimental group, compared to patients in control groups, respectively (PFS: RR=1.25; 95% CI: 1.08-1.46, P=0.004; OS: RR=1.16; 95% CI: 1.07-1.27, P=0.0006). In subgroup meta-analysis of studies on 6-, 12- and 18-month PFS and OS, it showed that adjuvant immunotherapy could improve the 6-month PFS (RR=1.23; 95% CI: 1.05-1.44, P=0.009), and 6-month OS (RR=1.17; 95% CI: 1.06-1.30, P=0.002). Conclusions: So given the above issue, our meta-analysis confirmed that the level of immune mediators could be a predicative factor for prognosis of BTC patients, and immunotherapy regimens by modulating the tumor microenvironment was superior for enhancing median PFS, 6-month PFS and OS.

Prognostic Significance of Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio in Oncologic Outcomes of Cholangiocarcinoma: A Meta-analysis

Increasing evidence indicates that the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a useful biomarker of long-term outcomes in patients with cholangiocarcinoma. However, the prognostic role of NLR in patients with cholangiocarcinoma remains unclear. Thus, the current meta-analysis was undertaken to clarify the correlation between NLR and overall survival (OS) in cholangiocarcinoma, and a comprehensive literature research was conducted to understand the association of NLR and prognosis of cholangiocarcinoma. The hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to assess OS. The synthesized HR of 1.449 (95% CI: 1.296-1.619, P < 0.001) indicated that a high NLR had an unfavourable effect on OS. Overall, this meta-analysis suggested that elevated preoperative NLR is associated with poorer rates of survival in cholangiocarcinoma patients.