Molecular portraits of patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma who diverge as rapid progressors or long survivors on chemotherapy

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  • Massimiliano Salati
  • Colin Rae
  • Guido Carpino
  • Holly Leslie
  • Antonio Pea
  • Maria G. Prete
  • Luca R. Bonetti
  • Francesco Amato
  • Robert Montal
  • Rosie Upstill-Goddard
  • Colin Nixon
  • Paula Sanchon-Sanchez
  • Paolo Kunderfranco
  • Daniela Sia
  • Eugenio Gaudio
  • Diletta Overi
  • Stefano Cascinu
  • Sian Pugh
  • Enric Domingo
  • John N. Primrose
  • John Bridgewater
  • Andrea Spallanzani
  • Fabio Gelsomino
  • Josep M. Llovet
  • Diego F. Calvisi
  • Luke Boulter
  • Francesco Caputo
  • Ana Lleo
  • Nigel B. Jamieson
  • Gabriele Luppi
  • Massimo Dominici
  • Chiara Braconi

Objective: Cytotoxic agents are the cornerstone of treatment for patients with advanced intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA), despite heterogeneous benefit. We hypothesised that the pretreatment molecular profiles of diagnostic biopsies can predict patient benefit from chemotherapy and define molecular bases of innate chemoresistance. Design: We identified a cohort of advanced iCCA patients with comparable baseline characteristics who diverged as extreme outliers on chemotherapy (survival <6 m in rapid progressors, RP; survival >23 m in long survivors, LS). Diagnostic biopsies were characterised by digital pathology, then subjected to whole-transcriptome profiling of bulk and geospatially macrodissected tissue regions. Spatial transcriptomics of tumour-infiltrating myeloid cells was performed using targeted digital spatial profiling (GeoMx). Transcriptome signatures were evaluated in multiple cohorts of resected cancers. Signatures were also characterised using in vitro cell lines, in vivo mouse models and single cell RNA-sequencing data. Results: Pretreatment transcriptome profiles differentiated patients who would become RPs or LSs on chemotherapy. Biologically, this signature originated from altered tumour-myeloid dynamics, implicating tumour-induced immune tolerogenicity with poor response to chemotherapy. The central role of the liver microenviroment was confrmed by the association of the RPLS transcriptome signature with clinical outcome in iCCA but not extrahepatic CCA, and in liver metastasis from colorectal cancer, but not in the matched primary bowel tumours. Conclusions: The RPLS signature could be a novel metric of chemotherapy outcome in iCCA. Further development and validation of this transcriptomic signature is warranted to develop precision chemotherapy strategies in these settings.

Original languageEnglish
JournalGut
Volume73
Pages (from-to)496-508
ISSN0017-5749
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.

    Research areas

  • chemotherapy, cholangiocarcinoma, liver

ID: 369924338