Major histocompatibility complex class I expression impacts on patient survival and type and density of immune cells in biliary tract cancer.

Background: Biliary tract cancers (BTC) are rare malignant tumours with a poor prognosis. Previously, we have presented a detailed characterisation of the inflammatory infiltrate in BTC. Here, we analysed the impact of the expression of major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC I) on patient survival and the quantity, as well as the quality of tumour-infiltrating immune cell types in BTC.

BRAF V600E-specific immunohistochemistry reveals low mutation rates in biliary tract cancer and restriction to intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

BRAF mutations have emerged as an important predictive biomarker for metastasized melanoma. Other types of cancer may also benefit from BRAF mutation-targeted therapies. In biliary tract cancer, reported BRAF mutation rates are highly controversial, ranging from 0 to 33% in adenocarcinoma of the gallbladder and 0 to 22% in cholangiocarcinoma.