Pathways in small cell lung cancer and its therapeutic perspectives.

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is known for its rapid growth with high metastatic spread. Its treatment remains a major challenge for oncologists due to the high mutation rate and other clinical disadvantages. The survival rate of these patients is very poor but there is no significant progress over the last few decades in the treatment protocols. Hence there is an urgency to design new clinical trials with novel drug combinations that can specifically and effectively target key pathways for proper treatment of SCLC. There have been several indications that developmental signalling pathways are involved in tumor growth, progression, metastasis and invasion of SCLC. Thus, it is anticipated that deciphering the signalling cascades of these embryonic signalling pathways may reveal novel therapeutic breakthroughs in SCLC. In this context, we have tried to assemble all the relevant information to give an updated overview of the various signalling pathways involved in the development of SCLC.