REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Role of Immunotherapy in Cancer Therapy and Its ChallengesView all 27 articles
Overcoming Heterogeneity and Immunosuppression: Novel Strategies in Adoptive Therapy for Biliary Tract Cancer
Provisionally accepted
- 1The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
- 2Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
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Background: Biliary tract cancer (BTC) is a highly heterogeneous malignancy originating from the biliary epithelium or gallbladder mucosa, characterized by strong invasiveness and poor prognosis. Although surgery remains the primary curative strategy, most patients are diagnosed at advanced stages, limiting surgical opportunities. The traditional gemcitabine plus cisplatin chemotherapy regimen, although a standard treatment, has limited efficacy and often leads to drug resistance. In recent years, adoptive cell immunotherapy has emerged as a promising new avenue for BTC treatment. Main Body: This review systematically elaborates on the research progress of various ACT strategies in BTC, including chimeric antigen receptor T cells, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, natural killer cells, cytokine-induced killer cells, and T-cell receptor-engineered T cells. Furthermore, it comprehensively analyzes current key challenges and discusses future directions and optimization strategies regarding these therapies. Conclusion: This review summarizes recent progress in adoptive cell therapy for biliary tract cancer and discusses optimization strategies to facilitate clinical translation.
Keywords: Adoptive cell immunotherapy, Biliary tract cancer, Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, Cytokine-Induced Killer Cells, Natural Killer cells, T-Cell Receptor-Engineered T Cells, Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes
Received: 19 Dec 2025; Accepted: 16 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Zhu, Xiong, Guan, Sun, Guo, Peng and Zhu. 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: Hong Zhu
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