In general, TGF-β suppresses tumour growth at early stages, while acts as a tumour-promoting agent at later stages by inducing invasion and metastasis.8 To benefit from the tumour-promoting functions of TGF-β, tumour cells must decouple the TGF-β signalling from apoptosis while maintaining a functional TGF-β pathway.8 Our findings reveal important differences in the effects of TGF-β signalling activation in iCCA tumour cells compared to other cancers. This evidence concerns the gene TGFB1 and cancer.