phaseiiThe “7th Annual Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation Meeting” was celebrated (23-25th July, 2020) this year virtually with 1600 participants from 44 countries (https://cholangiocarcinoma.org/2020-annual-conference/), and involving the CCA community, scientists and clinicians from all over the world, patients, care givers, advocates, sponsors and volunteers.
During these 3 days, new knowledge on CCA epidemiology, risk factors, molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis, including the important role of the tumor microenvironment, metabolism and immunobiology, as well as the mechanisms behind the resistance to chemotherapy, was presented and discussed among others. Moreover, encouraging data were presented on precision medicine, including new strategies for non-invasive diagnosis, personalized treatments according to the genetic and molecular features of the tumors, and novel radiotherapy and immunotherapy approaches. Finally, it was highlighted the need to keep collaborating internationally for moving forward faster in the generation of new knowledge and for the translation of the results into the clinic along the next decade.
Different members of ENS-CCA and the COST Action Euro-Cholangio-Net (Jesper Andersen, Patricia Aspichueta, Jesus Banales, John Bridgewater, Luke Boulter, Chiara Braconi, Luca Fabris, Heinz-Josef Klumpen, Ana Lleo, Rocio Macías, Chiara Raggi, Juan Valle) actively participated providing new data and discussions, and info on the activities of the COST Action Euro-Cholangio-Net was also presented.
From ENS-CCA/Euro-Cholangio-Net COST Action, we would like to warmly thank the President Stacie Lindsey and the whole Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation staff and volunteers, for the exceptional dedication, effort and work in the transformation of this successful meeting into a new innovative format this year, which has resulted in a full success.