The importance of drug diversity in the treatment of small cell lung cancer.
Drug diversity is a fundamental concept guiding the assembly of combination chemotherapy regimens. At a basic level, the superiority of combination chemotherapy over monotherapy shows the importance of drug diversity. However, it has been difficult to show advantages of triplet regimens over doublet regimens in patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer. Among the potentially curable limited-stage small cell lung cancer patient population, a number of trials have suggested that more diverse regimens could be more active. However, the need to safely integrate thoracic irradiation with etoposide and cisplatin for limited-stage small cell lung cancer has decreased enthusiasm for additional drugs. The power of multiple traditional agents to overcome resistant clones is clearly limited. Clinical trials incorporating the taxanes and topoisomerase I inhibitors will explore the capacity of these more recently investigated agents to improve results. Semin Oncol 28 (suppl 4):38-42.
Murray
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Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, Canada.
D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*