Novel approaches for the treatment of small cell lung cancer

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is characterized by its exquisite sensitivity to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Despite dramatic tumor shrinkage, however, patients are rarely cured and median survival is less than I year for most patients who present with extensive-stage disease (ED) and 18 months for patients with limited-stage disease (LD). Other articles in this issue have detailed current strategies to improve survival by evaluating new cytotoxic agents and radiotherapy techniques. Meanwhile, our growing understanding of the biology of SCLC provides additional targets to exploit for therapeutic benefit [1]. Table I lists molecular abnormalities and their frequency in SCLC [2-24]. In this article, the authors review the current status of biologically targeted agents directed toward several of these abnormalities.