Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive tumor characterized by rapid doubling time and high propensity for early development of disseminated disease. Although most patients respond to initial therapy with a platinum doublet, the majority of those with limited stage and virtually all patients with metastatic disease eventually develop tumor progression for which there are limited treatment options. There have been no recent changes in the treatment of SCLC, with platinum plus etoposide and topotecan as the standard first-line and second-line respectively, neither showing survival benefit over the combination of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin and vincristine, which was developed in the 1970s. More recently, a new understanding of the biology of SCLC has led to the development of novel drugs, of which the most promising are the immune checkpoint inhibitors and the antibody drug conjugate rovalpituzumab tesirine.

小细胞肺癌（SCLC）是一种侵袭性肿瘤，其特征在于快速加倍的时间和较高的散播性疾病早期发展倾向。尽管大多数患者对铂类药物的初始治疗有反应，但大多数阶段受限的患者以及几乎所有转移性疾病患者最终都会发展出肿瘤进展，因此治疗选择有限。SCLC的治疗方法近期没有变化，铂，依托泊苷和托泊替康分别作为标准的一线和二线药物，与环磷酰胺，阿霉素和长春新碱的组合（1970年代开发）相比，均未显示出生存获益。 。最近，对SCLC生物学的新认识导致了新药的开发，