Fasano Rossella, Serratì Simona, Rafaschieri Tania, Longo Vito, Di Fonte Roberta, Porcelli Letizia, Azzariti Amalia
Laboratory of Experimental Pharmacology, IRCCS Istituto Tumori Giovanni Paolo II, V.Le O. Flacco, 65, 70124 Bari, Italy.
Medical Thoracic Oncology Unit, IRCCS Istituto Tumori Giovanni Paolo II, 70124 Bari, Italy.
Biomolecules. 2024 Mar 25;14(4):396. doi: 10.3390/biom14040396.
Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) cases represent approximately 15% of all lung cancer cases, remaining a recalcitrant malignancy with poor survival and few treatment options. In the last few years, the addition of immunotherapy to chemotherapy improved clinical outcomes compared to chemotherapy alone, resulting in the current standard of care for SCLC. However, the advantage of immunotherapy only applies to a few SCLC patients, and predictive biomarkers selection are lacking for SCLC. In particular, due to some features of SCLC, such as high heterogeneity, elevated cell plasticity, and low-quality tissue samples, SCLC biopsies cannot be used as biomarkers. Therefore, the characterization of the tumor and, subsequently, the selection of an appropriate therapeutic combination may benefit greatly from liquid biopsy. Soluble factors, circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), circulating tumor cells (CTCs), and extracellular vesicles (EVs) are now useful tools in the characterization of SCLC. This review summarizes the most recent data on biomarkers detectable with liquid biopsy, emphasizing their role in supporting tumor detection and their potential role in SCLC treatment choice.
小细胞肺癌(SCLC)病例约占所有肺癌病例的15%,仍然是一种难以治疗的恶性肿瘤,生存率低且治疗选择有限。在过去几年中,与单纯化疗相比,化疗联合免疫疗法改善了临床疗效,从而形成了目前SCLC的标准治疗方案。然而,免疫疗法的优势仅适用于少数SCLC患者,且缺乏SCLC的预测性生物标志物。特别是,由于SCLC的一些特征,如高度异质性、细胞可塑性增强和组织样本质量差,SCLC活检不能用作生物标志物。因此,肿瘤的特征描述以及随后合适治疗组合的选择可能会从液体活检中大大受益。可溶性因子、循环肿瘤DNA(ctDNA)、循环肿瘤细胞(CTC)和细胞外囊泡(EV)现在是SCLC特征描述中的有用工具。本综述总结了液体活检可检测到的生物标志物的最新数据,强调了它们在支持肿瘤检测中的作用及其在SCLC治疗选择中的潜在作用。