Cancer is a complex condition to treat. Some people respond to certain treatments better than others, and so much of your treatment is dependent on when you’ve been diagnosed, where your cancer originated from and how far your cancer has spread.

When we start talking about rare or aggressive cancers like cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer), that’s especially true — there’s still a lot we don’t know, and navigating misinformation can be hard.

But with the help of molecular profiling (also known as biomarker testing), as well as ongoing research and clinical trials, discovering the right treatment for you is becoming easier.

Oncologist Suneel Kamath, MD, explains just how molecular profiling works and why you may want to consider participating in a clinical trial.

What is molecular profiling?

The cells in your body are distinctly different from one another depending on the type of cells they are. Your kidney cells are made up of different molecules than your skin cells. Your blood cells are different from your brain cells, and so on. These differences also occur in cancer cells, and each cancer type will have different configurations from another cancer. This is how doctors are able to tell that cholangiocarcinoma is different from