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Review
. 2019 May 2;12(1):47.
doi: 10.1186/s13045-019-0736-3.

Emerging therapies for small cell lung cancer

Sen Yang  1 , Zhe Zhang  1 , Qiming Wang  2
Affiliations
Review

Emerging therapies for small cell lung cancer

Sen Yang et al. J Hematol Oncol. .

Abstract

Currently, chemotherapy remains the standard treatment for first- and second-line management of small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Immunotherapy has made progress in the treatment of SCLC, and nivolumab, pembrolizumab, atezolizumab, and durvalumab have led to significant improvements in clinical outcomes of SCLC. Regarding options in other classes of therapy, the cytotoxic drug lurbinectedin was granted orphan drug status based on a remarkable objective response rate of 39.3%. In addition, an increase in progression-free survival (PFS) was achieved in a phase II study of anlotinib (ALTER 1202). Future prospects for even better outcomes in SCLC lie in novel ways to integrate immunotherapy and small-molecule TKI drugs. Innovative clinical trial designs are needed to efficiently explore the increasing number of options with new drugs and new combinations thereof for SCLC.

Keywords: Chemotherapy; Immunotherapy; Small cell lung cancer; Targeted therapy.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Written informed consent for publication was obtained from both participants.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Mechanisms of action for targeted agents. VEGFR, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor; PDGFR, platelet-derived growth factor receptor; FGFR, fibroblast growth factor receptor; DLL3, delta-like protein 3; PARP, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase; PDL-1, programmed death ligand 1; PD1, programmed death 1; CTLA-4, cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Targets and biomarkers for targeted therapy. DLL3, delta-like protein 3; PARP, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase; PDL-1, programmed death ligand 1; PD1, programmed death 1; CTLA-4, cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4; SLFN11, schlafen family member 11; TMB, tumor mutation burden; IHC, immunohistochemistry; NGS, next-generation sequencing
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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