Author: Jennifer C. King, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, GO2 for Lung Cancer
The World Conference on Lung Cancer features research on all types of thoracic cancers—and small cell lung cancer is no exception. There were many talks on new research advances in small cell lung cancer (SCLC). While none of them featured an immediate change in how a person with small cell lung cancer would be treated, they highlighted the huge amount of work that is going on in small cell research today. There were a few major themes.
Subtypes of Small Cell Lung Cancer and Associated Biomarkers
The first theme was subtypes of small cell lung cancer and associated biomarkers. Scientists are starting to have a better understanding that small cell is not one uniform disease, there are different subtypes that may require different treatment options. There is a lot of ongoing research to understand potential different subtypes, figure out which treatments work best for which subtypes, and identify biomarkers that will allow doctors to quickly identify the right treatments. Multiple new potential biomarkers were presented and this research is moving quickly.
Chemotherapy Resistance
Another theme was chemotherapy resistance. Chemotherapy with platinum and etoposide is a standard treatment for small cell lung cancer globally. (It is now combined with immunotherapy for first-line treatment in the United States.) This treatment is usually very effective at first, but resistance eventually develops. There is ongoing research to study biomarkers of which cancers may become resistant more quickly, reasons for the drug resistance, and new therapies that could sensitize or re-sensitize to chemotherapy. There were meeting presentations on all of these topics and the discussions highlighted recent advances and ongoing clinical trials.
In all cases, one of the most important takeaways was that clinical trials are critically important in small cell lung cancer. Doctors and scientists need to test these new biomarkers and treatments to be able to bring them to the small cell community. Right now, your best treatment could be on a clinical trial. If you are interested in a trial for you or someone you love, talk to your doctor or call our LungMATCH team at 1-800-298-2436 or support@go2.org to discuss the options.
Please post some recent findings about novel molecular markers for SCLC. SCLC is a stubborn disease and the treatment choices are embarrassingly low and ineffective. Resistance is also rampant, making patients lives extremely difficult. This research should be highly encouraged.
Thank you for this suggestion! We agree about encouraging research in this area. Earlier this year, we posted a piece on exactly this topic by Dr. Carl Gary: https://go2.org/blog/a-more-promising-and-personalized-future-for-small-cell-lung-cancer-patients/ Dr. Gay was the first author of one of the most important papers this year on biomarkers in SCLC and how they impact therapeutic response (and he previously received a Young Investigator Award from GO2 for Lung Cancer).