The relationship between absolute lymphocyte count with PFS in patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma undergoing autologous hematopoietic cell transplant

Improving the international prognostic index score using peripheral blood counts: Results of a large multicenter study involving 520 patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma

The main purpose of this study was to assess whether it is possible to improve the prognostic impact of international prognostic index (IPI) score by combining it with peripheral blood counts. Thus, we evaluated the prognostic power of lymphocyte, neutrophil, and monocyte counts in 520 patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma treated with R‐CHOP, confirming that these parameters have a strong impact on overall survival (OS). Using revised IPI (R‐IPI), 44% of patients were categorized as poor‐risk and showed an OS at 5 years of 46%. As OS at 5 years of the 520 patients is 67%, it is clearly evident that R‐IPI tends to overestimate the proportion of patients with poor prognosis. Accordingly, in an attempt to improve the discriminating power of R‐IPI, we evaluated and compared three different scores by combining the neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and absolute monocyte count (AMC) with the following values: (a) IPI score 3‐5, (b) age > 60 years and performance status, (c) age  ≥ 65 years and LDH > ULN. The three indexes studied, had a similar 5 years OS for the high‐risk group (46%‐52%), but the proportion of patients classified as poor‐risk were 37%, 20%, and 32%, respectively, which are lower than 44% identified with R‐IPI. Thus, while R‐IPI overestimates the number of high‐risk patients, after applying our models, it is possible to recognize patients who are truly at high‐risk. Of the three scores, the most accurate appears to be that based on NLR, AMC, LDH > ULN and age ≥ 65 years, which identifies 32% of high‐risk patients, correlating well with what is seen in clinical practice.

Prediction of delayed platelet engraftment after autologous stem cell transplantation for B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Delayed platelet engraftment (DPE) is occasionally observed despite prompt neutrophil engraftment after autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (auto-PBSCT). To identify risk factors for DPE and to develop a simple and clinically applicable system for predicting the time required for platelet recovery, we conducted a multi-institutional retrospective study in 144 patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma who underwent auto-PBSCT. In a median observation period of 930 days (range: 25-5272 days), 139 patients successfully achieved platelet engraftment (≥50.0 × 10⁹/L). The median duration for platelet engraftment was 19 days, and 130 patients had platelet engraftment within 40 days after auto-PBSCT; however, the other 14 patients failed to achieve platelet engraftment within 60 days. These 14 patients with DPE required a significantly greater number of apheresis procedures and had a lower pre-apheresis absolute lymphocyte count (PA-ALC) compared to those without DPE. Importantly, multivariate analysis revealed that the number of transplanted CD34⁺ cells (≤2.0 × 10⁶/kg), number of required apheresis procedures (≥3 days), and PA-ALC (≤1.0 × 10⁹/L) were independently associated with a longer time for platelet engraftment after auto-PBSCT. By incorporating these three independent factors as variables, we generated a new scoring system for prediction of the time and probability for platelet engraftment after auto-PBSCT.

Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio at diagnosis is an independent prognostic factor in patients with nodular sclerosis Hodgkin lymphoma: results of a large multicenter study involving 990 patients

Several studies have demonstrated the prognostic value of neutrophil‐lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in patients with solid tumors and non–Hodgkin lymphoma. In contrast, there is only sparse data on its prognostic role in patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL). The aim of our study was to establish whether NLR could serve as an independent prognostic factor in a cohort of 990 patients with nodular sclerosis (NS)‐cHL. After analysis of the log hazard ratio (HR) as a function of NLR, we chose the value 6 as cutoff. Patients with NLR >6 had a worse progression‐free survival and overall survival compared to those with NLR ≤6; 84% vs 75% and 92% vs 88%, at 5 years, with an HR of 1.65 and 1.82, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that the risk remained high with HR 1.44 and HR 1.54 in progression‐free survival and overall survival, respectively. In summary, our study shows that NLR is a robust and independent prognostic parameter in NS‐cHL, both in early and advanced disease. It is inexpensive and simple to apply. Thus, we conclude that NLR, possibly in combination with the international prognostic score and absolute monocyte count, is a useful guide for physicians treating NS‐cHL patients.

Pretreatment T lymphocyte numbers are contributing to the prognostic significance of absolute lymphocyte numbers in B-cell non-Hodgkins lymphomas

Targeted immuno-chemotherapy resulted in greatly improved survival of B cell lymphoma patients. Several prognostic markers are investigated, amongst them the pretreatment absolute lymphocyte numbers. We investigated lymphocyte subpopulations and correlated this data with prognosis of patients. 88 patients (mean age: 56 years, 18-88, median follow up 32 months) with B cell lymphomas were investigated. There were 51 DLBCL, 16 Follicular NHL, 4 MALT, 7 Marginal Zone NHL, 10 Small lymphocytic cases were investigated. Our data showed that overall survival was statistically significant up to the 0.9 G/l absolute lymphocyte numbers as dividers between the subgroups. The CD19+ B cell numbers, or the CD56+/CD3- NK cell numbers did not represent any significant differences between subgroups. However CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were differentiating statistically significant subgroups. Pretreatment CD3+ cell number less than 700/ul and CD8+ cell number less than 200/ul were corresponding with significantly inferior overall survival. These could be verified in the bad prognostic IPI group as well. Our data further support the importance of pretreatment lymphocyte numbers and highlight CD3+ and CD8+ lymphocytes to be the key factors in predicting outcome.