sirolimus and taxane

Over the last 20 years, progress in the therapy of small cell lung cancer has been painfully slow. Despite dramatic initial responses to chemotherapy, most patients relapse quickly with an overall 5-year survival of about 5%. Recent trials however offer some hope at changing this picture. Combining standard regimens with newer agents has doubled median survival in some cases. The use of novel targeted agents holds the promise of significantly increasing the survival in this disease, with manageable toxicity. This review outlines current treatment strategies, summarizes recent clinical trials and offers a view of what the next 5 years may hold for the treatment of small cell lung cancer.

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Apoptosis; Bridged-Ring Compounds; Carcinoma, Small Cell; Clinical Trials as Topic; Humans; Lung Neoplasms; Palliative Care; Phosphoinositide-3 Kinase Inhibitors; Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; Proto-Oncogene Proteins; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; Sirolimus; Taxoids; Topoisomerase I Inhibitors