The prognostic role of soluble transforming growth factor‐β and its correlation with soluble programmed death‐ligand 1 in biliary tract cancer

BACKGROUND This study aimed to evaluate the association between soluble TGF-β (sTGF-β) and soluble PD-L1 (sPDL1), the dynamics of sTGF-β during treatment and its prognostic role in biliary tract cancer (BTC). METHODS The study population consisted of 90 BTC patients with first-line chemotherapy (cohort 1) and 35 BTC patients with second- or third-line chemotherapy (cohort 2). Plasma sTGF-β and sPDL1 levels were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS In both groups, sTGF-β was positive correlated with sPDL1 for baseline and change values after treatment. sTGF-β was elevated at disease progression compared to baseline in cohort 1 (P