Abstract
Small cell lung cancer accounts for 14% of all lung cancers. It remains a major challenge for oncology as the progresses made in the past three decades are modest. After a rapid overview of current knowledge regarding somatic genomic alterations, this state-of-art addresses pathways to improve small-cell lung cancer outcome such as the targeting of DNA damage repair mechanisms firstly anti-PARPs, inhibitory molecules of EZH2, derepression of the NOTCH pathway, rovalbituzumab-tesirine, inhibition of serine/threonine Aurora A kinase, temozolomide and its dependence on methylation of the MGMT promoter. This first chapter suggests the beginning of precision medicine in small cell lung cancer. The last section focuses on the development of immuno-oncological agents and the information collected from phase 1 and 2 studies: the low intensity of PD-L1 tissue expression and the possible relationship of the activity of these agents as a function of tumor mutational burden are pointed out.