Published online Dec 15, 2023. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v15.i12.2053
Peer-review started: July 27, 2023
First decision: September 26, 2023
Revised: October 11, 2023
Accepted: November 10, 2023
Article in press: November 10, 2023
Published online: December 15, 2023
Processing time: 139 Days and 15.6 Hours
Gall bladder cancer (GBC) is becoming a very devastating form of hepatobiliary cancer in India. Every year new cases of GBC are quite high in India. Despite recent advanced multimodality treatment options, the survival of GBC patients is very low. If the disease is diagnosed at the advanced stage (with local nodal metastasis or distant metastasis) or surgical resection is inoperable, the prognosis of those patients is very poor. So, perspectives of targeted therapy are being taken. Targeted therapy includes hormone therapy, proteasome inhibitors, signal transduction and apoptosis inhibitors, angiogenesis inhibitors, and immunotherapeutic agents. One such signal transduction inhibitor is the specific short interfering RNA (siRNA) or short hairpin RNA (shRNA). For developing siRNA-mediated therapy shRNA, although several preclinical studies to evaluate the efficacy of these key molecules have been performed using gall bladder cells, many more clinical trials are required. To date, many such genes have been identified. This review will discuss the recently identified genes associated with GBC and those that have implications in its treatment by siRNA or shRNA.
Core Tip: The frequency of gall bladder cancer (GBC) in India has increased. The survival of GBC patients is also poor. In this context, some genes have been recognized which are involved in the carcinogenesis of GBCs. In this review, we have discussed such genes which could be aimed for the development of targeted therapy for GBC.