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Ainhoa Lapitz - Estudiante predoctoral en el IIS Biodonostia.

Online

08/10/21

13:30

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) comprises a heterogeneous group of malignant tumors with dismal prognosis. CCA is still considered a rare type of cancer, however, in the last decades, its global incidence and related mortality rates have been alarmingly increasing, currently representing the second most frequent primary hepatobiliary cancer. Although most CCAs are considered sporadic and lack a clear etiology, there are well-established conditions that significantly increase the odds of CCA development, including the presence of choledochal cysts, biliary stones, cirrhosis, viruses or biliary diseases (e.g., Caroli´s or primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC)). Furthermore, the silent growth of CCAs strongly impact their early detection, thus compromising patients’ access to potentially curative options, mainly based on surgery or liver transplantation. Currently, CCAs are usually diagnosed by a sequential protocol comprising imaging, the analysis of tumor biomarkers in serum and histological/cytological confirmation. Still, the suboptimal accuracy of current diagnostic approaches reflects the need for novel and accurate non-invasive diagnostic strategies. In the last years, extracellular vesicles (EVs) have arisen as a promising source of non-invasive biomarkers for human diseases. Consequently, this project aims to evaluate the role and usefulness of EVs for the diagnosis of CCA, by studying the transcriptomic and proteomic profile of EVs in an attempt to describe novel early and specific biomarkers to identify CCA. The early and accurate diagnosis of patients with CCA might result in the identification of patients eligible for potentially curative therapeutic options, contributing to the improvement of patients’ welfare and outcome.