Countering the one-size-fits-all treatment for small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), investigators classified the malignancy into four unique subtypes based on gene expression and found that different classes of drugs may be more effective in treating by specific subtype.
SCLC has been treated as a single disease because the tumors look similar under the microscope, even though they behave differently, said investigator Lauren Averett Byers, MD, an associate professor of thoracic/head and neck medical