Abstract
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive tumor characterized by early metastasis and resistance to treatment, making it a prime target for therapeutic investigation. The current standard of care for frontline treatment involves a combination of chemotherapeutic agents and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), though durability of response remains limited. The genetic heterogeneity of SCLC also complicates the development of new therapeutic options. Adoptive cell therapies show promise by targeting specific mutations in order to increase efficacy and minimize toxicity. There has been significant investigation in three therapeutic classes for application towards SCLC: antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), bispecific T-cell engagers (BiTEs), and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapies. This review summarizes the recent advances and challenges in the development of adoptive cell therapies. Genetic targets such as delta-like ligand 3 (DLL3), trophoblast cell surface antigen 2 (Trop2), B7-H3 (CD276), gangliosides disialoganglioside GD2 (GD2) and ganglioside GM2 (GM2) have been found to be expressed in SCLC, which makes them prime targets for therapy development. While investigated therapies such as rovalpituzumab tesirine (Rova-T) have failed, several insights from these trials have led to the development of compelling new agents such as sacituzumab govitecan (SG), ifinatamab deruxtecan (I-DXd), tarlatamab, and DLL3-targeted CAR-T cells. Advancing development of molecular testing and improving targeted approaches remain integral to pushing forward the progress of adoptive cell therapies in SCLC.