Besides targeted drugs for driver mutations, immunotherapies represent one of the two recent major advancements of the past decade for the treatment of metastatic non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Nivolumab and ipilimumab enhance T-cell antitumour activity through distinct and complementary mechanisms.

Lung cancer mortality rates for both men and women have been declining in recent years. Early detection, refined understanding of tumour biology, and a variety of novel treatment options have made these advances possible. Nevertheless, lung cancer is still the leading cause of cancer death in the United States and worldwide, prompting the scientific community to persevere in their research efforts and to extend them to areas that have traditionally been marked by little progress, such as small-cell lung cancer (SCLC).