A genomic analysis of large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma versus small cell lung cancer: which is which?

Neuroendocrine tumors are a vastly diverse group of tumors developed by neuroendocrine cells. Neuroendocrine cells are found throughout the whole body, and function in hormone regulation and epithelium repair. In the lung, there are various types of neuroendocrine tumors, one being large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC). LCNEC is a rare and aggressive subtype of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and is usually treated as a type of NSCLC (1-4). However, in recent years, it has been shown that LCNEC shares similar histological, immunohistochemical (IHC), and molecular characteristics with small cell lung cancer (SCLC), despite the different characterization of the size of the cells (5).