About this Research Topic

Background

Immunotherapy, and specifically immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), have transformed the landscape of cancer treatment over the past decade. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, and the impact of ICI on the treatment and prognosis of lung cancer is significant. The introduction of ICI into the treatment paradigm for extensive stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC) heralded the first improvement in overall survival in thirty years for these patients, and now represents standard of care treatment. In non-small cell lung cancer, ICI are not only restricted to treatment of metastatic disease and are increasingly incorporated into treatment regimens in the neoadjuvant and adjuvant settings.

Despite the recent advances in treatment with immunotherapy, SCLC remains an aggressive and lethal disease. While ICI have improved survival for these patients, it is not to the same extent as seen in non-small cell lung cancer, and the reasons behind this are unclear. SCLC often have high tumor mutation burden and high antigenicity, yet the responses to ICI have been modest. Biomarkers to predict patients who will respond to immunotherapy are in need. Studies have also attempted to augment the immune response activated by CTLA-4, PD-1 and/or PD-L1 checkpoint blockade by targeting other key points in immune regulation pathways. Trials investigating other mechanisms to modulate the immune system to attack cancer cells are also underway.

In this collection, we are interested in obtaining a better understanding of the pathophysiology and molecular biology of immunotherapy in SCLC, treatment outcomes, and novel immunotherapy agents and combinations. We welcome the submission of Original Research, Reviews, Perspectives, and Medical Case Reports focusing on, but not limited to, the following sub-topics:
• Mechanisms of immune response in SCLC.
• Identification and analysis of predictive biomarkers in SCLC.
• Treatment outcomes of immunotherapy and combinations of agents in the treatment of SCLC.
• Immune-related adverse events in the treatment of SCLC.
• Identification of mechanisms of resistance to immunotherapy in SCLC.
• Strategies to overcome resistance to immunotherapy in SCLC.

Manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by robust and relevant validation are considered out of scope of this section.

Topic Editor Dr. Alfredo Addeo is on the advisory boards of MSD Oncology, Roche, Takeada, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca, Eli-Lilly, and Roche. Topic Editor Dr. Alessandro Russo is on the advisory boards for AstraZeneca, MSD, Novartis, and Pfizer. Topic Editor Dr. Janakiraman Subramanian is on the advisory boards for Advisory board for AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer, Novartis, Daichi, G1 Therapeutics, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Oncology, Lilly, Blueprint Medicines, Axcess. BeiGene, Cardinal Health, Takeda, and OncoCyte. The other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.

Keywords: Small cell lung cancer, Immune checkpoint inhibitors, Immunotherapy

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