Progress in immunotherapy for small cell lung cancer

Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a special type of lung cancer that belongs to highly aggressive neuroendocrine tumors. At present, radiotherapy and chemotherapy remain the mainstay of treatment for SCLC. Progress in targeted therapies for SCLC with driver mutations has been slow, and these therapies are still under investigation in preclinical or early-phase clinical trials, and research on antiangiogenic tyrosine kinase inhibitors (e.g., anlotinib) has achieved some success. Immunotherapy is becoming an important treatment strategy for SCLC after radiotherapy and chemotherapy. In this article we review the recent advances in immunotherapy for SCLC.