Research Progress of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Small Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract

Small cell lung cancer has high malignant degree, rapid progression and poor prognosis, and has lacked effective treatment strategies for a long time. In the past, the treatment strategy for small cell lung cancer has been dominated by chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and although first-line treatment is highly effective, the vast majority of patients will relapse and become resistant within a year.In recent years, the application and research of immune checkpoint inhibitors in small cell lung cancer have been increasing, bringing new hope for survival of small cell lung cancer patients, multiple clinical trials have demonstrated long-lasting efficacy and clinical activity of programmed death receptor/ligand-1 and cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 in small cell lung cancer. The main immune checkpoint inhibitors that have been well studied in small cell lung cancer are Nivolumab, Pembrolizumab, Serplulimab, Tislelizumab, Atezolizumab, Durvalumab, Adebrelimab and Ipilimumab. In this paper, the research progress of these drugs is reviewed, and the research progress of the combined application of immune checkpoint inhibitors with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, PARP inhibitors, WEE1 inhibitors, etc. The final results showed that immune checkpoint inhibitors brought survival benefits to patients with small cell lung cancer. However, due to the particularity of this disease, the survival time is still shorter than that of non-small cell lung cancer. It is expected that follow-up studies can further extend the survival time of patients.