Challenges and future perspectives for the use of temozolomide in the treatment of SCLC

Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), accounting for 10–20 % of all lung tumors, represents the most aggressive high-grade neuroendocrine carcinoma. Most patients are diagnosed with extensive-stage SCLC (ES-SCLC), with brian metastases identified in ∼ 80 % of cases during the disease cours, and the prognosis is dismal, with a 5-year survival rate of less than 5 %.

Current available treatments in the second-line setting are limited, and topotecan has long been the only FDA-approved drug in relapsed or refractory ES-SCLC, until the recent approval of lurbinectedin, a selective inhibitor of RNA polymerase II.

Temozolomide (TMZ) is an oral alkylating agent, which showed single-agent activity in SCLC, particularly among patients with O⁶-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter methylation.

Several studies have revealed the synergistic activity of temozolomide with poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors, that prevent repair of TMZ-induced DNA damage.

This review focuses on the rationale for the use of TMZ in ES-SCLC and provides an overview of the main trials that have evaluated and are currently investigating its role, both as a single-agent and in combinations, in relapse or refractory disease.