Hitting a Home Run for Small-Cell Lung Cancer Patients

(NewsUSA) - Not long ago, small cell lung cancer was considered the forgotten cancer, and treatment was generally chemotherapy and radiation. But now, there is a new treatment that is showing great promise for patients with small-cell lung cancer. Some doctors say that when it works, it is like hitting a home run in treating small-cell lung cancer.

This exciting new treatment uses the patient's immune system to fight cancer. The treatment, called T-cell engager technology, uses the immune system's T-cells to attack and kill the cancer cell. The FDA approved a new T-cell engager therapy last month. 

Dr. Jacob Sands, Thoracic Oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, says utilizing T-cell engager technology is like hitting a home run in treating small-cell lung cancer. 

Dr. Jacob Sands, Thoracic Oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

"Chemotherapy can be like swinging the bat for a single or a double. You're more likely to get a hit, but it doesn't necessarily win the game. What we've seen from the T-cell engagers is particularly exciting because the numbers suggest a more frequent hit. The question is, are those home runs? We don't yet know. Are they triples? We'll have to see," said Dr. Jacob Sands, Thoracic Oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. 

LCFA encourages people living with small-cell lung cancer to ask their doctor about the latest treatment options.

For more information on T-cell engager technology and small-cell lung cancer at LCFAmerica.org