Unexpected Synergy Reveals New Therapeutic Strategy in SCLC

DNA damage repair (DDR) inhibition and immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) have each individually shown modest clinical activity in small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Recently, Sen and colleagues ( Cancer Discov. 2019; https://doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.CD-18-1020) demonstrated that DDR inhibition can activate the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) innate immune pathway, providing strong rationale for combining DDR inhibition and ICB to treat SCLC