The prognostic value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in de novo stage IV breast cancer: a retrospective cohort study
Bin Shao, Huiping Li, Xiaoran Liu, Guohong Song, Hanfang Jiang, Ying Yan, Ruyan Zhang, Ran Ran, Jiayang Zhang, Yaxin Liu, Huan Wang, Jing Wang, Lijun Di
Abstract
Background: stage IV BC patients. Methods: stage IV BC at Peking University Cancer Hospital between January 2011 and December 2020. All patients were followed up by telephone every 6 months. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to determine the optimal cutoff value of NLR for progression-free survival (PFS). Peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets and tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) were analyzed by flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry, respectively. Correlations of PFS and overall survival (OS) with NLR and other clinicopathological factors were evaluated using Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression analyses. Results: regulatory T (Treg) cells (P=0.041). Patient samples with NLR-low also demonstrated higher levels of TILs than those with NLR-high (P=0.025). Conclusions: stage IV BC. The NLR-high status may indicate immune suppression status, which can help identify patients with unfavorable prognosis and assist with physicians' treatment decision.