Dear Colleagues,

Over the last two decades the extraordinary progresses made in the knowledge of the genetic basis of cancers have prompted the development of novel effective strategies. Unfortunately, the therapeutic landscape of advanced small cell lung cancer (SCLC) has little changed since the approval of platinum-etoposide more than 30 years ago, despite extraordinary efforts to better understand the molecular biology of this tumour. As a consequence, no targeted agent has been approved for this indication. Recent studies analysing the genetic landscape of SCLC have identified different molecular subtypes that might have important therapeutic implication. Furthermore, in the last few years the “wave” of immune checkpoint inhibitors has broken on SCLC with the rapid approval of chemo-immunotherapy combinations in the first line setting, replacing the old therapeutic standard of care of platinum-based chemotherapy. This has led to a small but clinically significant improvement in the survival outcomes of SCLC patients, but much is still to be done to finally change the unfavourable natural history of this lethal disease. Several open questions still need to be addressed and no predictive biomarkers have been approved to date for immune checkpoint inhibitors in SCLC. There is an urgent need of novel effective therapeutic strategies through a better understanding of the molecular and genetic landscape of this disease. The use of liquid biopsy might provide useful prognostic and predictive information and represents a powerful tool for tumour genotyping with largely underexplored potentials in SCLC.

The aim of this Special Issue is to expand the current knowledge on the molecular, genetic and therapeutic landscape of SCLC. Experimental studies in in vitro and in vivo models, review articles are all welcome for consideration.

Dr. Alessandro Russo
Guest Editor

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• SCLC
• PD-L1
• Immunotherapy
• Immune checkpoint inhibitors
• Liquid biopsy
• Circulating tumor cells
• ctDNA
• Antibody drug conjugates
• PARP inhibitors
• CDK4/6 inhibitors
• Predictive biomarkers