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CASE REPORT article

Front. Immunol.

Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1685944

This article is part of the Research TopicNew Strategies and Clinical Translation Progress in Immunotherapy for Liver CancerView all articles

Effective Control in MSI-High Unresectable Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma Treated with Gemcitabine/Cisplatin/Durvalumab and Proton Beam Therapy: A Case Report

Provisionally accepted
Takuto  NosakaTakuto Nosaka*Hironori  NaitoHironori NaitoYosuke  MurataYosuke MurataYu  AkazawaYu AkazawaTomoko  TanakaTomoko TanakaKazuto  TakahashiKazuto TakahashiTatsushi  NaitoTatsushi NaitoMasahiro  OhtaniMasahiro OhtaniYoshiaki  ImamuraYoshiaki ImamuraYasunari  NakamotoYasunari Nakamoto*
  • University of Fukui, Fukui, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Systemic chemotherapy is the standard treatment for unresectable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA); however, its efficacy remains limited. We report a clinically valuable case of a 57-year-old woman with advanced unresectable iCCA characterized by high microsatellite instability (MSI-high) and major vascular invasion. The patient presented with purpura and was diagnosed with MSI-high iCCA with intravascular tumor extension reaching the right atrium and regional lymph node metastases. Combination therapy with gemcitabine, cisplatin, and durvalumab (GCD therapy) was initiated, resulting in a 56% reduction in tumor size after eight cycles. To enhance local tumor control, proton beamtherapy (3.3 Gy × 22 fractions) was added, which was completed without adverse events. The patient subsequently received durvalumab maintenance therapy, followed by pembrolizumab. Although there was minimal growth of lymph node and pulmonary metastases, no regrowth of the intrahepatic primary tumor was observed for 18 months after PBT. This case illustrates the potential clinical value of combining GCD therapy with proton beam therapy for MSI-high, unresectable iCCA with major vascular invasion. The combination achieved systemic disease control and durable local control without significant toxicity.

Keywords: intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, Immune checkpoint inhibitor, proton beam therapy, Vascular invasion, Microsatellite Instability

Received: 14 Aug 2025; Accepted: 14 Oct 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Nosaka, Naito, Murata, Akazawa, Tanaka, Takahashi, Naito, Ohtani, Imamura and Nakamoto. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Takuto Nosaka, nosat@u-fukui.ac.jp
Yasunari Nakamoto, nakamoto-med2@med.u-fukui.ac.jp

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