Can thymidine phosphorylase be a predictive marker for gemcitabine and doxifluridine combination chemotherapy in cholangiocarcinoma?: Case series

Abstract

Unresectable cholangiocarcinoma is poorly responded to chemotherapy, especially for the case refractory to gemcitabine and cisplatin. Here, we tested whether high expression of thymidine phosphorylase (TP) can be a predictive biomarker for the indicator for gemcitabine and doxifluridine combination chemotherapy in the cholangiocarcinoma refractory to gemcitabine and cisplatin.Immunohistochemical staining for TP was performed with a biopsy specimen. We accepted the result as positive when more than 10% of cancer cells were stained with moderate intensity.Here, we report 2 cases of TP-positive cholangiocarcinoma well controlled with gemcitabine and doxifluridine combination chemotherapy, which had been refractory to the first line treatment with gemcitabine and cisplatin combination chemotherapy.