Abstract: The malignancy of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is very high. The outcome of SCLC patients is poor due to its rapid metastasis after the fi rst-line chemotherapy and the few available drugs used in the second-line chemotherapy. With the development of molecular biology, immunotherapy may break the bottle neck in treatment of SCLC, thus ushering in a glimmer of hope for it. The curative effect of adoptive immunotherapy and speci fi c vaccine on SCLC is still controversial. However, a number of clinical trials are undergoing. It has been shown in basic studies that Bcl-2 and livin gene are expected to become a new target for the diagnosis and treatment of SCLC.