Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio as Prognostic and Predictive Factor in Breast Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review

Effects of Primary Tumor Resection on Metastatic Breast Cancer Survival and the Predictive Power of Neutrophil: Lymphocyte Ratio on Prognosis

Objective

The aim was to investigate the effect of primary tumor resection (PTR) on survival in metastatic breast cancer patients and to assess the power of the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) regarding the prediction of prognosis in this patient group.

Materials and Methods

Female patients diagnosed with and starting treatment for metastatic breast cancer from 2003 to 2016 in the general surgery and oncology clinics at a single center were retrospectively reviewed. Pre-treatment NLR value and survival situations were evaluated.

Results

A total of 117 patients were enrolled. The disease-specific survival (DSS) of the patients was 41.4 months. When stratified into PTR and systemic treatment (ST) groups, there was no difference in the survival (p = 0.054); 43.5 months in the PTR group vs 30.7 months in the ST group. When hormone receptor (HR)-positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative subgroups were analyzed, DSS was significantly longer (p = 0.02) in the PTR group (55.4 months) compared to the ST group (41.8 months). Finally, in patients with an NLR of <2.3, DSS was significantly longer (p = 0.03) in the PTR group (56.1 months) compared to the ST group (25.2 months).

Conclusion

These results suggest that DSS can be increased with PTR in selected patients with a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer. NLR may be useful in selecting patients for appropraite treatment modality.

The Evolution and Prognostic Role of Tumour-Infiltrating Lymphocytes and Peripheral Blood-Based Biomarkers in Inflammatory Breast Cancer Patients Treated with Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy

INTRODUCTION

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a rare but aggressive form of breast cancer (BC) in which the (prognostic) role of stromal tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTIL) and the peripheral circulating immune cells in patients with residual disease (RD) after neo-adjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) is not clearly established.

METHODOLOGY

To describe the evolution of sTIL and some peripheral inflammation markers (Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, Platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio and Lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio) after NACT in IBC, we retrospectively collected clinicopathological variables for 125 stage III IBC patients. sTILs were scored by three different researchers on an H&E slide of the mastectomy specimen. A cohort of subtype-matched non-IBC breast cancer patients (nIBC) treated with NACT was included for comparison.

RESULTS

There was no significant difference in the pre- and posttreatment sTIL scores between IBC and nIBC and in both groups the number of sTIL was significantly lower after NACT. However, the IBC phenotype did correlate with a stronger decrease of sTIL after NACT (OR: 0.25, 95% CI: 0.073-0.76, p = 0.018). The change in the peripheral immune markers was not significantly different between IBC and nIBC. After NACT, 75 patients had residual disease. In this group, a high number of sTIL before NACT (HR: 0.23, 95% CI: 0.05-1.02, p = 0.05) was prognostic for a longer OS, while a low number of sTIL after NACT (HR: 0.33, 95% CI: 0.11-0.98, p = 0.046) and a low residual cancer cellularity (HR: 0.20, 95% CI: 0.08-0.52, p < 0.001) was associated with a longer DFS.

CONCLUSIONS

IBC is associated with a significantly stronger decrease of sTIL after NACT compared to nIBC. Furthermore, a high number of sTIL after NACT was associated with a worse prognosis in IBC.

Association of the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio with brain metastases in Hispanic breast cancer patients

BACKGROUND

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most common cancers and leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women. Metastatic disease, particularly brain metastases (BM), is associated with death in BC patients. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been associated with BC prognosis, but it is not usually used in clinical practice and has not been associated with BM. We aimed to determine if there is an association between NLR and BM and if NLR is associated with survival in a Hispanic population.

METHODS

A retrospective cohort with a total of 2,104 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of BC at a single referral center were randomly divided into training and validation datasets. Univariable and multivariable analyses were performed to study the association of NLR with BM and/or survival.

RESULTS

No significant differences between datasets were identified. A high NLR (> 2.2) was associated with a higher frequency of BM after multivariable adjustment in both datasets. Overall survival was shorter in patients with a high NLR; however, the most important factor associated with outcome was the presence of BM. The interaction NLR/BM was not statistically significant.

CONCLUSION

A high NLR at BC diagnosis was associated with a higher frequency of BM, and the presence of BM was associated with worse overall survival in Hispanic BC patients.

Obesity and high neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio are prognostic factors in non-metastatic breast cancer patients

Obesity has been associated with an increased risk of breast cancer recurrence and death. Some readily available biomarkers associated with systemic inflammation have been receiving attention as potential prognostic indicators in cancer, including neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR). This study aimed to explore the correlation between body mass index (BMI) and invasive breast cancer and the association of NLR, PLR, and BMI with breast cancer outcomes. We undertook a retrospective study to evaluate patients treated for breast cancer over 14 years. Clinicopathological data was obtained before receiving any treatment. Of the 1664 patients included with stage I-III, 567 (34%) were obese (BMI≥30 kg/m²). Obese patients had larger tumors compared to non-obese patients. Higher BMI was associated with recurrence and worse survival only in patients with stage I disease. NLR and PLR were classified into high and low level groups. The NLR^high (NLR>4) was found to be an independent prognostic factor for recurrence and mortality, while the PLR^high (PLR>150) group had no impact on survival. A subgroup of patients with NLR^high and BMI^high had the worst disease-free survival (P=0.046), breast cancer-specific survival (P<0.001), and overall survival (P=0.006), compared to the other groups. Patients with early-stage breast cancer bearing NLR^high and BMI^high had worse outcomes, and this might be explained by the dysfunctional milieu of obesity in adipose tissue and its effects on the immune system. This study highlights the importance of lifestyle measures and the immune system interference with clinical outcomes in the early breast cancer setting.

Establishment and Validation of Nomogram Based on Combination of Pretreatment C-Reactive Protein/Albumin Ratio-EBV DNA Grade in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients Who Received Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy

Background

A higher ratio of pretreatment C-reactive protein/albumin ratio (CAR) is associated with poor prognosis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), and Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) DNA level is known to not only participate in the occurrence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma but also affect the development and prognosis of the disease. Herein, we proposed that a combination of both these markers could improve the predictive prognostic ability.

Methods

In all, 842 NPC patients who received concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) were entered in this study. We collected all patients’ blood samples and EBV DNA copy numbers within one week before any treatment. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to determine the optimal cut-off. We employed the Kaplan–Meier method for survival analyses and the univariate and multivariate analyses (Cox proportional hazards regression model) for statistical analysis. A nomogram was constructed based on multivariate analyses results of the validation set. The model was internally validated using 1000 bootstrap samples to avoid overfitting. Another validation of 10-fold cross-validation was also applied. Calibration curves and concordance index (C-index) were calculated to determine predictive and discriminatory capacity.

Results

In the whole cohort, we observed that higher CAR, EBV DNA level, and CAR-EBV DNA (C-E) grade were associated with shorter overall survival (OS) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) (all P<0.05). In univariate and multivariate analyses, C-E grade was an independent prognostic factor (all P<0.05). In the training set, we gained the similar results with the whole set. According to multivariate analyses of the training set, we constructed a nomogram. The results of bootstrap samples and 10-fold cross-validation showed favorable predictive efficacy. And calibration curves of the model provided credibility to its predictive capability.

Conclusion

C-E grade was confirmed as an independent prognostic predictor in patients with NPC who received CCRT. Higher level of pretreatment C-E grade could signify a higher risk of metastasis and shorter OS. The prognostic nomogram based on C-E grade was dependable in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients.

Time-Sequencing of the Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio to Predict Prognosis of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Since triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) have varying prognoses, it is important to identify subgroups with particularly poor prognosis. The aim of this study was to assess whether changes in the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) during the treatment process were associated with poor prognosis in TNBC patients. This study included 600 TNBC patients who underwent surgery from January 2005 to December 2016. The associations of the NLR and clinicopathologic factors with breast cancer recurrence and survival in patients who underwent both definitive local treatment (total mastectomy or breast-conserving surgery with radiotherapy) and systemic chemotherapy were analyzed. The NLRs at four time points (before surgery, before chemotherapy, before radiotherapy, and 1 year after surgery) were assessed. The univariate analysis showed that changes in the NLR before the start of radiotherapy (odds ratio: 1.115, confidence interval: 1.011-1.229) and 1 year after surgery (odds ratio: 1.196, confidence interval: 1.057-1.354) significantly increased the risk of recurrence or death. In multivariate analysis, T stage, N stage, and changes in the NLR were significant factors. A time-sequenced NLR may reflect the prognosis of TNBC patients. A poor prognosis is expected in patients whose NLR increases during treatment compared to the preoperative NLR, and additional treatment is needed.

Role of Systemic Inflammatory Reaction in Female Genital Organ Malignancies - State of the Art

Systemic inflammatory reaction (SIR) is an unfavorable prognostic factor in many malignancies and has a role in all stages of the neoplastic process: initiation, promotion, and disease progression. Analysis of SIR can be performed by assessing indicators (eg, lymphocyte-to-neutrophil, platelet-to-lymphocyte, and monocyte-to-neutrophil ratios) and products of neutrophils and lymphocytes (ie, the systemic immune-inflammation index), or by examining the relationship between levels of C-reactive protein and albumin (based on the Glasgow Prognostic Score, modified Glasgow Prognostic Score, and C-reactive protein-to-albumin ratio). Risk stratification is essential in the clinical management of cancer; hence, the evaluation of these factors has potential applications in the clinical management of patients with cancer and in the development of new therapeutic targets. This review summarizes the current knowledge on SIR indicators and presents their clinical utility in malignancies of the female genital organs.

Prognostic Relevance of Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) in Luminal Breast Cancer: A Retrospective Analysis in the Neoadjuvant Setting

The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a promising predictive and prognostic factor in breast cancer. We investigated its ability to predict disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with luminal A- or luminal B-HER2-negative breast cancer who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT). Pre-treatment complete blood cell counts from 168 consecutive patients with luminal breast cancer were evaluated to assess NLR. The study population was stratified into NLR^low or NLR^high according to a cut-off value established by receiving operator curve (ROC) analysis. Data on additional pre- and post-treatment clinical-pathological characteristics were also collected. Kaplan–Meier curves, log-rank tests, and Cox proportional hazards models were used for statistical analyses. Patients with pre-treatment NLR^low showed a significantly shorter DFS (HR: 6.97, 95% CI: 1.65–10.55, p = 0.002) and OS (HR: 7.79, 95% CI: 1.25–15.07, p = 0.021) compared to those with NLR^high. Non-ductal histology, luminal B subtype, and post-treatment Ki67 ≥ 14% were also associated with worse DFS (p = 0.016, p = 0.002, and p = 0.001, respectively). In a multivariate analysis, luminal B subtype, post-treatment Ki67 ≥ 14%, and NLR^low remained independent prognostic factors for DFS, while only post-treatment Ki67 ≥ 14% and NLR^low affected OS. The present study provides evidence that pre-treatment NLR^low helps identify women at higher risk of recurrence and death among patients affected by luminal breast cancer treated with NACT.

Pretreatment systemic inflammation response index is predictive of pathological complete response in patients with breast cancer receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy

BACKGROUND

Inflammation plays an important role in tumor proliferation, metastasis, and resistance to chemotherapy. The systemic inflammation response index (SIRI), has been reported to be closely related to prognosis in many tumors, such as breast and gastric cancers. However, the predictive value of pretreatment SIRI on pathological complete response (pCR) rates in patients with breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is unknown. This study examined the correlation between SIRI and pCR in patients with breast cancer receiving NAC and identified convenient and accurate predictive indicators for pCR.

METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed the clinicopathological parameters and pretreatment peripheral blood characteristics of the 241 patients with breast cancer who received NAC between June 2015 and June 2020. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to determine the optimal cutoff of SIRI. ROC curves were also plotted to verify the accuracy of inflammatory markers for pCR prediction. The chi-squared test was used to explore the relationships of SIRI with pCR and other clinicopathological parameters. Multivariate analyses were performed using a logistic regression model.

RESULTS

Among the 241 patients, 48 (19.92%) achieved pCR. pCR was significantly related to SIRI, the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), the lymphocyte-monocyte ratio (LMR), molecular subtypes and other clinicopathological parameters, such as BMI, clinical T and N staging, and histological grade. Multivariate analyses indicated that the clinical T and N staging, SIRI, and NLR were independent prognostic factors for pCR in patients with breast cancer. The area under the ROC curve for SIRI was larger than that for NLR. Compared to patients with SIRI ≥0.72, patients with SIRI < 0.72 had a nearly 5-fold higher chance of obtaining pCR (odds ratio = 4.999, 95% confidence interval = 1.510-16.551, p = 0.000).

CONCLUSIONS

Pretreatment SIRI is predictive of pCR in patients with breast cancer receiving NAC, and the index can assist physicians in formulating personalized treatment strategies.

Predictive value of NLR, TILs (CD4+/CD8+) and PD-L1 expression for prognosis and response to preoperative chemotherapy in gastric cancer

The combination of perioperative chemotherapy plus complete surgical resection is currently accounted as the first-choice strategy in patients with locally advanced Gastric Cancer (LAGC). Nevertheless, the partial response rate makes it necessary to search biological parameters useful to select patients who would benefit most from neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAD-CT). We performed a retrospective analysis on a cohort of 65 LAGC cases, EBV negative and without MMR defect, submitted to perioperative chemotherapy plus surgical resection. We evaluated the neutrophil-lymphocytes ratio (NLR) in peripheral blood, the TILs density (reported as CD4/CD8 tissue ratio) and PD-L1 expression by immunohistochemistry on bioptic tissues before the treatment. Results were correlated with the biological features, histological response (TRG) and clinical outcome (PFS and OS). We found that NLR, TILs and PD-L1 expression showed a significant correlation with TNM stage, lymphovascular invasion and response to NAD-CT (TRG). Correlating the NLR, TILs and PD-L1 expression with PFS and OS, we found that patients with lower NLR levels (< 2.5 ratio), lower TILs (< 0.2 ratio) and higher PD-L1 level (CPS ≥ 1) had a significantly better PFS and OS than those with higher NLR, higher TILs and lower PD-L1 expression (p < 0.0001). Multivariate and multiple regression analyses confirmed the predictive and prognostic role of all three parameters, especially when all three parameters are combined. Our study demonstrated that pre-treatment NLR, TILs and PD-L1 expression are predictive and prognostic parameters in NAD-CT-treated LAGC suggesting a pivotal role of the systemic and tumor microenvironment immunological profile in the response to chemotherapy.

A Systemic Inflammation Response Score for Prognostic Prediction of Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Surgery

Background: Systemic inflammatory response is related to the occurrence, progression, and prognosis of cancers. In this research, a novel systemic inflammation response score (SIRS) was calculated, and its prognostic value for postoperative stage I-III breast cancer (BC) patients was analyzed. Methods: 1583 BC patients were included in this research. Patients were randomly divided into a training cohort (n = 1187) and validation cohort (n = 396). SIRS was established in the training cohort based on independent prognostic hematological indicator, its relationship between prognosis and clinical features was analyzed. Then, a nomogram consisted of SIRS and clinical features was established, its performance was examined by calibration plots and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Results: The SIRS was an independent prognostic indicator for BC patients, and a high-SIRS was related to multifocality, advanced N stage, and worse prognosis. Incorporating SIRS into a nomogram could accurately predict the prognosis of BC patients, the results of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of nomogram was up to 0.806 in training cohort and 0.905 in the validation cohort. Conclusion: SIRS was associated with the prognosis of patients with breast cancer. Nomogram based on SIRS can accurately predict the prognosis of breast cancer patients.

Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio is an independent prognostic marker for feline mammary carcinomas

Blood leukocyte counts and respective derived ratios have been described as potential prognostic markers in several tumours in veterinary oncology. This study aimed to evaluate peripheral blood leukocyte subpopulations and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as prognostic factors for feline mammary carcinomas (FMC). Medical records from cats diagnosed with FMC between 2017 to 2019 were reviewed. Cats were included if fully staged, classified as WHO stage I to III, and submitted to mastectomy. Cats were excluded if they had evidence of other diseases. Forty-nine cats were included. The study endpoints were disease-free interval (DFI) and tumour-specific survival (TSS). The median DFI and TSS were 389 days and 528 days respectively. In the univariate analysis, higher values of total white blood cell count (WBC), neutrophil count (NEU) and NLR were identified as significant prognostic factors for both endpoints (P < .05). On the multivariate analysis, NLR remained an independent prognostic factor for TSS (P = .024). In the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the estimated cut-off for WBC was 8.49 × 10⁹ /L (DFI and TSS); for NEU was 4.62 × 10⁹ /L (DFI) and 6.65 × 10⁹ /L (TSS) and for NLR was 2.46. These cut-offs were significant prognostic factors for DFI and TSS (P < .05). NLR cut-off remained an independent prognostic factor for both DFI (P = .032) and TSS (P = .043) in the multivariable analysis. Our results suggest that NLR, NEU, and WBC can be important non-invasive presurgical prognostic markers, and that NLR is an independent prognostic marker for FMC. Prospective studies are warranted to validate its clinical use.

Development of a predictive model utilizing the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio to predict neoadjuvant chemotherapy efficacy in early breast cancer patients

Neutrophils and lymphocytes are key regulators of breast cancer (BC) development and progression. Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) values have been found to offer clear prognostic utility when evaluating BC patients. In this study, we sought to determine whether BC patient baseline NLR values are correlated with pathological complete response (pCR) following neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) treatment. In total, 346 BC patients underwent NCT at our hospital from January 1, 2014 to October 31, 2019, and data pertaining to these patients were retrospectively analyzed. Correlations between clinicopathological characteristics and pCR rates were assessed via multivariate logistic regression analyses. A predictive scoring model was used to gauge the likelihood of pCR based upon regression coefficient (β) values for each significant variable identified through these analyses. NLR cut-off values suitable for identifying patients likely to achieve pCR following NCT treatment were calculated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. All patients in the present study were females with a median age of 48 years old (range 22–77). An optimal NLR cut-off value of 1.695 was identified and was associated with respective sensitivity and specificity values of 63.6% and 45.5%. We found that higher NLR values were significantly associated with younger age, premenopausal status, and non-pCR status. Logistic regression analyses indicated that NLR, tumor size, hormone receptor (HR) status, and Ki-67 expression were all independent predictors of pCR. The area under the curve (AUC) for the resultant predictive scoring model was 0.705, and this model was assessed via K-fold cross-validation (k = 10) and bootstrapping validation, yielding respective AUC values of 0.68 and 0.694. Moreover, the incorporation of NLR into this predictive model incrementally improved its overall prognostic value relative to that of a model not incorporating NLR (AUC = 0.674). BC patients with a lower baseline NLR are more likely to exhibit pCR following NCT treatment, indicating that NLR may be a valuable biomarker for BC patient prognostic evaluation and treatment planning. Overall, our results demonstrate that this NLR-based predictive model can efficiently predict NCT efficacy in early BC patients with a high degree of accuracy.

The prognostic and predictive role of the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and the monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio in early breast cancer, especially in the HER2+ subtype

Purpose

The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic impact of two systemic inflammatory markers, the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and the monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), and their possible predictive role regarding the efficacy of adjuvant trastuzumab, in 209 early breast cancer cases, 107 of which were HER2-positive.

Methods

Baseline NLR and MLR values were divided into two groups, high and low, according to cut-off-points determined from the ROC curve (2.2 for NLR and 0.22 for MLR). Cox’s model was utilized for survival analyses.

Results

High NLR and MLR correlated with poor overall survival (OS) and breast cancer specific survival (BCSS) among all the patients (p ≤ 0.030). Among the HER2+ patients whose adjuvant treatment did not include trastuzumab (n = 64), the survival rates were remarkably lower in patients with a high NLR as compared to those with low; 31% vs. 71% for OS and 42% vs. 74% for BCSS (p ≤ 0.014). Similarly, high MLR correlated with poor survival among these patients (p ≤ 0.020). On the contrary, among the patients who had received adjuvant trastuzumab (n = 43), NLR or MLR did not correlate with survival. Furthermore, trastuzumab was beneficial for the HER2+ patients with high NLR/MLR, while the survival of the HER2+ patients with low NLR/MLR was good irrespective if they received adjuvant trastuzumab.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that trastuzumab modulates the systemic inflammatory conditions and overcomes the poor prognostic impact of high NLR/MLR. This finding may also provide a rationale for combining trastuzumab with immuno-oncological treatments in HER2+ breast cancer.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1007/s10549-020-05925-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.