Abstract
In recent years, extraordinary achievements have been made in treating tumor immune checkpoints as targets, which significantly contributes to the research and development of novel immunologic drugs and their application in treating malignant tumors. However, few immunologic drugs can be administered to treat Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC). Currently, the focus of most clinical studies is placed on treating SCLC with a combination of immunotherapy and chemotherapy, which is relatively expensive and not covered by medical insurance, thus imposing a heavy economic burden on patients. Meanwhile, obvious adverse reactions occur during chemotherapy, which is still unacceptable to many patients and hence has not yet been widely adopted in clinical practice. Therefore, whether immunotherapy alone can help patients with SCLC, improve their quality of life, and prolong their survival time is a topic we will study in the future. In this case, an attempt was made to apply camrelizumab, an immunologic drug, in the treatment of SCLC in advanced stages, and a favorable efficacy was achieved.
Highlights
Immune checkpoint molecules mainly include Programmed Death Receptor 1 (PD-1)/Programmed Death Ligand 1 (PD-L1), and Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte Associated Antigen-4 (CTLA-4) [1,2]
The PD-1 inhibitor camrelizumab (AiRuiKaTM) [5] independently developed by China has been approved for marketing and application in the treatment of malignant tumors, with favorable anti-tumor activity shown in clinical trials for various malignant tumors [6], such as Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma (ESCC), Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC), Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma (NPC), Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC), Gastric Cancer (GC), and Esophagogastric Junction Cancer (EGJC)
Camrelizumab can block the interaction between PD-L1 on the surface of malignant tumor cells, Tumor Infiltrating Dendritic Cells (TIDCs), Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TILs), Antigen Presenting Cells (APCs), and other cells [8], and PD-L2 on the surface of activated macrophages and DC, relieve the immunosuppression of T cells mediated by the PD-1 pathway, further induce the activation of T lymphocytes on the surface of activated macrophages and DC, reconstruct the immune system’s capabilities to monitor and kill tumor cells, and achieve anti-tumor effects [9,10,11]
Summary
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Tongren People’s Hospital, Guizhou Province, Tongren 554300, China Citation: Wang J, Deng C, Zhu X, Zou X, Wang J (2021) Immunotherapy for Advanced Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Case Report. J Clin Case Stu 6(5): dx.doi.org/10.16966/2471-4925.235
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