Biliary tract cancer is a group of
malignancies which originate from biliary
epithelium, and
adenocarcinoma is the main pathological type. Although surgical resection is the only radical
treatment strategy, most
biliary tract cancer patients are diagnosed at locally advanced stage or with distant
metastasis.
Biliary tract cancer is highly resistant to the conventional
chemoradiotherapy and the emerging
immunotherapy including
immune checkpoint inhibitors, owing to the suppressive immune microenvironment. In a whole view, this
paper discussed the anti-
tumor and
tumor-promoting
immune responses of the various immune
cells and
stromal cells in the immune microenvironment of
biliary tract cancer, as well as their correlation with
prognosis. The
understanding of the whole view of immune microenvironment in
biliary tract cancer patients could further inform the design of clinical trials of
immunotherapy or combination
therapy.