TY - JOUR
T1 - Pathology and classification of SCLC
AU - Raso, Maria Gabriela
AU - Bota-Rabassedas, Neus
AU - Wistuba, Ignacio I.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/2/2
Y1 - 2021/2/2
N2 - Lung cancer is consistently the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, and it ranks as the second most frequent type of new cancer cases diagnosed in the United States, both in males and females. One subtype of lung cancer, small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC), is an aggressive, poorly differentiated, and high-grade neuroendocrine carcinoma that accounts for 13% of all lung carcinomas. SCLC is the most frequent neuroendocrine lung tumor, and it is commonly presented as an advanced stage disease in heavy smokers. Due to its clinical presentation, it is typically diagnosed in small biopsies or cytology specimens, with routine immunostaining only. However, immunohistochemistry markers are extremely valuable in demonstrating neuroendocrine features of SCLC and supporting its differential diagnosis. The 2015 WHO classification grouped all pulmonary neuroendocrine carcinomas in one category and maintained the SCLC combined variant that was previously recognized. In this review, we explore multiple aspects of the pathologic features of this entity, as well as clinically relevant immunohistochemistry markers expression and its molecular characteristics. In addition, we will focus on characteristics of the tumor microenvironment, and the latest pathogenesis findings to better understand the new therapeutic options in the current era of personalized therapy.
AB - Lung cancer is consistently the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, and it ranks as the second most frequent type of new cancer cases diagnosed in the United States, both in males and females. One subtype of lung cancer, small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC), is an aggressive, poorly differentiated, and high-grade neuroendocrine carcinoma that accounts for 13% of all lung carcinomas. SCLC is the most frequent neuroendocrine lung tumor, and it is commonly presented as an advanced stage disease in heavy smokers. Due to its clinical presentation, it is typically diagnosed in small biopsies or cytology specimens, with routine immunostaining only. However, immunohistochemistry markers are extremely valuable in demonstrating neuroendocrine features of SCLC and supporting its differential diagnosis. The 2015 WHO classification grouped all pulmonary neuroendocrine carcinomas in one category and maintained the SCLC combined variant that was previously recognized. In this review, we explore multiple aspects of the pathologic features of this entity, as well as clinically relevant immunohistochemistry markers expression and its molecular characteristics. In addition, we will focus on characteristics of the tumor microenvironment, and the latest pathogenesis findings to better understand the new therapeutic options in the current era of personalized therapy.
KW - Biology of SCLC
KW - Immune-checkpoint inhibitors in SCLC
KW - Pathology and classification of SCLC
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U2 - 10.3390/cancers13040820
DO - 10.3390/cancers13040820
M3 - Review article
C2 - 33669241
AN - SCOPUS:85101044281
SN - 2072-6694
VL - 13
SP - 1
EP - 11
JO - Cancers
JF - Cancers
IS - 4
M1 - 820
ER -