Background Gallbladder cancer (GBC), the most common biliary tract malignancy, shows high incidence in Amerindian Chilean women and poor survival rates. Caveolin-1 (CAV1) may act as a tumour sup- pressor or promoter depending on E-cadherin (E-cadh) expres- sion, but its specific role in GBC progression remains unclear. 1.2. Aim 2 To investigate how CAV1 and E-cadh influence metastasis and prognosis in GBC.