Immunotherapy: a new era in small-cell lung cancer

Lung cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer (11·6% of all cancer cases) and the leading cause of deaths due to cancer (18·4% of all cancer deaths). 1 Bray F Ferlay J Soerjomataram I et al. Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J Clin. 2018; 68: 394-424 Crossref PubMed Scopus (41701) Google Scholar About 15% of all diagnosed lung cancers are small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) and up to 60–70% of these are extensive-stage SCLC (ES-SCLC) at initial diagnosis. 2 Oronsky B Reid TR Oronsky A Carter CA What's new in SCLC? A review. Neoplasia. 2017; 19: 842-847 Crossref PubMed Scopus (76) Google Scholar , 3 Wang S Tang J Sun T et al. Survival changes in patients with small cell lung cancer and disparities between different sexes, socioeconomic statuses and ages. Sci Rep. 2017; 71339 Crossref PubMed Scopus (72) Google Scholar Durvalumab plus platinum–etoposide versus platinum–etoposide in first-line treatment of extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer (CASPIAN): a randomised, controlled, open-label, phase 3 trialFirst-line durvalumab plus platinum–etoposide significantly improved overall survival in patients with ES-SCLC versus a clinically relevant control group. Safety findings were consistent with the known safety profiles of all drugs received. Full-Text PDF