Evaluation and validation of the prognostic value of nutrition and immunity parameters in gastric cancer after R0 resection

Survival Prediction Capabilities of Preoperative Inflammatory and Nutritional Status in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients

BACKGROUND

Studies have revealed the impacts of various inflammatory and nutritional markers in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). We evaluated the prognostic values of multiple inflammation- or nutrition-based markers, either alone or in combination with pStage, in ESCC patients.

METHODS

In total, 360 patients undergoing upfront surgery for ESCC were retrospectively reviewed. The prognostic capabilities of 7 inflammatory and 3 nutritional parameters were investigated. Furthermore, we devised new staging systems by adding these markers to pStage and examined the prognostic abilities of our new approach. Time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curves and the areas under the curve (AUCs) were estimated to compare prognostic capabilities among the parameters.

RESULTS

The AUCs for predicting overall survival (OS) of the prognostic nutritional index (PNI), CRP to albumin ration (CAR), lymphocyte to CRP ratio (LCR) and the Naples prognostic score (NPS) were similar to that of pStage. Notably, CAR and LCR showed high predictive capabilities for OS (AUCs; 0.627 and 0.634 for 3-year OS, respectively). New staging systems combining inflammatory or nutritional markers with pStage provided higher AUCs for predicting OS than pStage alone. In particular, NPpStage (NPS and pStage) (P = 0.03), PNpStage (PNI and pStage) (P = 0.03) and LCpStage (LCR and pStage) (P = 0.05) showed significantly higher accuracy for predicting OS than pStage alone.

CONCLUSIONS

Various inflammatory or nutritional markers, especially those derived from CRP, are useful for predicting survival outcomes of ESCC patients. The predictive capabilities of these indices were augmented when used in combination with pStage.

Prognostic Score System Using Preoperative Inflammatory, Nutritional and Tumor Markers to Predict Prognosis for Gastric Cancer: A Two-Center Cohort Study

INTRODUCTION

Gastric cancer (GC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Our study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of preoperative inflammatory, nutritional and tumor markers and develop an effective prognostic score system to predict the prognosis of GC patients.

METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed 1587 consecutive GC patients who received curative gastrectomy from two medical centers. A novel prognostic score system was proposed based on independently preoperative markers associated with overall survival (OS) of GC patients. A nomogram based on prognostic score system was further established and validated internally and externally.

RESULTS

Based on multivariate analysis in the training set, a novel BLC (body mass index-lymphocyte-carbohydrate antigen 19-9) score system was proposed, which showed an effective predictability of OS in GC patients (log-rank P < 0.001). Moreover, receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that BLC had better performance in predicting OS than the traditional prognostic markers. The C-index of the BLC based-nomogram was 0.710 (95% CI 0.686-0.734), and the areas under ROC curves for predicting 3- and 5-year OS were 0.781 (95% CI 0.750-0.813) and 0.755 (95% CI 0.723-0.786), respectively, which were higher than those of tumor node metastasis (TNM) staging system alone. The calibration curve for probability of 3- and 5-year OS rate showed a good fitting effect between prediction by nomogram and actual observation. Verification in the internal and external validation sets showed results consistent with those in the training set.

CONCLUSIONS

The BLC combining inflammatory, nutritional and tumor markers was an independent prognostic predictor for GC patients, and the nomogram based on BLC could accurately predict the personalized survival of patients with GC.

Low Pretreatment Albumin-to-Globulin Ratio Predicts Poor Prognosis in Gastric Cancer: Insight From a Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND

In recent five years, reports regarding albumin-to-globulin ratio (AGR) and the survival of gastric cancer (GC) have emerged rapidly, yet their association remains controversial. This meta-analysis was aimed to provide an insight into the prognostic significance of pretreatment AGR in GC.

METHODS

PubMed, Embase, Cochrane library, Web of Science, WanFang, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and VIP databases were searched for relevant studies, from inception to September 30, 2020. Individual hazard ratios (HRs) with their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were combined by Stata 12.0 software to evaluate the association between pretreatment AGR and overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival/progression-free survival (DFS/PFS).

RESULTS

A total of 8,305 patients with GC from 12 studies were included for further analysis. Pooled analyses indicated that low AGR was closely associated with worse OS (HR = 1.531, 95% CI: 1.300-1.803, P < 0.001) and worse DFS/PFS (HR = 2.008, 95% CI: 1.162-3.470, P = 0.012) in GC patients. Moreover, subgroup analyses demonstrated that the association between low AGR and worse OS remained constant despite variations in country, tumor stage, cut-off value, cut-off selection and treatment method.

CONCLUSION

AGR could act as an efficient prognostic indicator for GC, and that low pretreatment AGR predicts poor prognosis in GC.

Development and validation of a nomogram to predict the prognosis of patients with gastric cardia cancer

Our goal was to develop a prognostic nomogram to predict overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) in patients with gastric cardia cancer (GCC). Patients diagnosed with GCC from 2004 to 2015 were screened from the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results (SEER) database. A nomogram was developed based on the variables associated with OS and CSS using multivariate Cox analysis regression models, which predicted 3- and 5-year OS and CSS. The predictive performance of the nomogram was evaluated using the consistency index (C-index), calibration curve and decision curve analysis (DCA), and the nomogram was calibrated for 3- and 5-year OS and CSS. A total of 7,332 GCC patients were identified and randomized into a training cohort (5,231, 70%) and a validation cohort (2,200, 30%). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that marital status, race, SEER stage, grade, T stage, N stage, M stage, tumor size, and surgery were independent risk factors for OS and CSS in GCC patients. Based on the multivariate Cox regression results, we constructed prognostic nomograms of OS and CSS. In the training cohort, the C-index for the OS nomogram was 0.714 (95% CI = 0.705–0.723), and the C-index for the CSS nomogram was 0.759 (95% CI = 0.746–0.772). In the validation cohort, the C-index for the OS nomogram was 0.734 (95% CI = 0.721–0.747), while the C-index for the CSS nomogram was 0.780 (95% CI = 0.759–0.801). Our nomogram has better prediction than the nomogram based on TNM stage. In addition, in the training and external validation cohorts, the calibration curves of the nomogram showed good consistency between the predicted and actual 3- and 5-year OS and CSS rates. The nomogram can effectively predict OS and CSS in GCC patients, which may help clinicians personalize prognostic assessments and clinical decisions.

Geriatric nutritional risk index as a prognostic marker of pTNM-stage I and II esophageal squamous cell carcinoma after curative resection

The geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI) is associated with mortality in several malignancies. We retrospectively analyzed whether the GNRI can predict long-term outcomes in 191 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) after curative esophagectomies by evaluating their cancer-specific survival (CSS). In multivariate analyses, serum albumin (hazard ratio [HR], 2.498; p = 0.0043), GNRI (HR, 1.941; p = 0.0181), pathological tumor-node-metastasis (pTNM) stage (HR, 3.884; p < 0.0001), and tumor differentiation (HR, 2.307; p = 0.0066) were independent prognostic factors for CSS.

In pTNM stage I, multivariate analysis identified C-reactive protein (HR, 7.172; p = 0.0483) and GNRI (HR, 5.579; p = 0.0291) as independent prognostic factors for CSS. In univariate analyses in pTNM stages II and III, only low GNRI (p = 0.0095) and low serum albumin levels (p = 0.0119), respectively, were significantly associated with worse CSS. In patients with low GNRI, CSS was significantly worse than in those with normal GNRI (p = 0.0011), especially in pTNM stages I (p = 0.0044) and II (p = 0.0036) groups, but not in stage III group (p = 0.5099).

Preoperative GNRI may sort patients into low- or high-risk groups for shorter CSS, especially in those with pTNM stage I and II ESCC.

Diagnostic and prognostic value of preoperative systemic inflammatory markers in anaplastic thyroid cancer

BACKGROUND

Easily accessible, generalized, and inexpensive methods are expected to differentiate anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) from advanced differentiated thyroid cancer (aDTC). We aimed to explore potential diagnostic and prognostic value of systematic inflammatory markers (SIMs) in ATC and aDTC.

METHODS

About 22 ATC, 101 aDTC, and 100 matched early DTC patients were analyzed retrospectively. SIMs included the comprehensive index, neutrophil-monocyte-platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (NMPLR) and the previously reported ones. Receiver operating characteristic, Kaplan-Meier, and COX regression analyses were mainly conducted.

RESULTS

NMPLR exhibited the highest area under the curve value 0.806 (P < .0001) to diagnose ATC from aDTC. NMPLR was identified as an independent risk factor for overall survival (OS) (hazard ratio [HR]: 47.821, 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.863-798.765, P = .007) in ATC, as well as for OS (HR: 7.360, 95% CI, 1.620-33.430, P = .010) and recurrence-free survival (HR: 4.172, 95% CI, 1.139-15.286, P = .031) in aDTC. Taken both refractory types (ATC and aDTC) together, NMPLR could independently predict OS (HR: 6.470; 95% CI, 2.134-19.616; P = .001).

CONCLUSION

NMPLR is a generalized index. It showed excellent potential in differential diagnosis and survival prediction in refractory thyroid cancer. However, it needs to be validated in larger cohort and clinical practice.