Extrahepatic Bile Duct Cancer Treatments – Biotherapy / Immunotherapy

Biotherapy / Immunotherapy for Extrahepatic Bile Duct Cancer

At Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), we believe extrahepatic bile duct cancer treatment is enhanced by understanding and working with the body's own power of protection—the immune system.

Immunotherapy (also referred to as biological therapy, biotherapy, or biological response modifier therapy) uses your immune system, either directly or indirectly, to fight extrahepatic bile duct cancer, or to lessen the side effects of some cancer treatments.

Cancer may develop when your immune system fails or is not functioning well. Biotherapy is designed to repair, stimulate, or enhance your body’s own immune responses. Some examples of immunotherapy treatments include interferons, colony stimulating factors, and monoclonal antibodies.

Biotherapy/Immunotherapy may be used to:

• Stop, control, or suppress processes that permit cancer growth
• Make cancer cells more recognizable to your immune system, and, therefore more susceptible to destruction
• Boost the killing power of T-cells, NK-cells, macrophages, and other immune system cells
• Alter cancer cells' growth patterns to promote behavior like that of healthy cells
• Block or reverse the process that changes a normal cell or a pre-cancerous cell into a cancerous cell
• Enhance the body’s ability to repair or replace normal cells damaged or destroyed by other forms of cancer treatment, such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy
• Prevent extrahepatic bile duct cancer cells from spreading to other parts of the body

Your CTCA care team may use biotherapy/immunotherapy alone, or in conjunction with other treatment methods, such as surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy, to fight extrahepatic bile duct cancer.

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