Case Report: A small cell lung cancer transformed from an EGFR-mutated Adenocarcinoma demonstrated a long-term remission to anti PD-1 antibody

Transformation to small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a resistance mechanism in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) treatment. The efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) in transformed SCLC remains to be elucidated. The present case report highlights a patient whose tumor underwent transformation to SCLC after developing resistance to an EGFR-TKI treatment. The patient subsequently achieved long-term remission lasting more than 5 years through treatment with an anti-PD-1 antibody nivolumab. Generally, the efficacy of ICI is inferior in EGFR-mutated NSCLC compared to those with EGFR wild-type NSCLC. However, some cases that have transformed to SCLC may be sensitive to ICI treatment. Further investigation is necessary to determine the efficacy of ICI in cases that have undergone transformation to SCLC.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Frontiers in Oncology

• Publication date

  2025-09-10

• Fields of study

  Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.3389/fonc.2025.1651248PMID 41001033PMCID 12457102
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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