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Immunotherapy for Bile Duct Cancer

Immunotherapy is the use of medicines to help a person’s immune system better recognize and destroy cancer cells. Many of these drugs are being tested in clinical trials to see if they might help treat bile duct cancer.

More information about immunotherapy

To learn more about how drugs that work on the immune system are used to treat cancer, see Cancer Immunotherapy.

To learn about some of the side effects listed here and how to manage them, see Managing Cancer-related Side Effects.

The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team

Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as journalists, editors, and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.

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Blair AB, Murphy A. Immunotherapy as a treatment for biliary tract cancers: A review of approaches with an eye to the future. Curr Probl Cancer. 2017 Oct [Epub ahead of print].

National Cancer Institute. Physician Data Query (PDQ). Bile Duct (Cholangiocarcinoma) Cancer Treatment. 03/14/2018. Accessed at https://www.cancer.gov/types/liver/hp/bile-duct-treatment-pdq on March 29, 2018.

National Comprehensive Cancer Network. NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology: Hepatobiliary Cancers. v.1.2018. Accessed at https://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/pdf/hepatobiliary.pdf on March 29, 2018.

Patel T, Borad MJ. Carcinoma of the biliary tree. In: DeVita VT, Lawrence TS, Rosenberg SA, eds. DeVita, Hellman, and Rosenberg’s Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology. 10th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 2015:715-735.

Rizvi S, Khan SA, Hallemeier CL, Kelley RK, Gores GJ. Cholangiocarcinoma: Evolving concepts and therapeutic strategies. Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2018 Mar;15(2):95-111.

Last Revised: July 3, 2018