Open AccessPerioperative CRP: A novel inflammation‐based classification in gastric cancer for recurrence and chemotherapy benefit
Author(s) -
Lu Jun,
Xu BinBin,
Xue Zhen,
Xie JianWei,
Zheng ChaoHui,
Huang ChangMing,
Li Ping
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
cancer medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.403
H-Index - 53
ISSN - 2045-7634
DOI - 10.1002/cam4.3514
Subject(s) - medicine , c reactive protein , concordance , multivariate analysis , perioperative , gastroenterology , chemotherapy , cancer , adjuvant chemotherapy , multivariate statistics , surgery , oncology , inflammation , breast cancer , statistics , mathematics
Background Perioperative C‐reactive protein (CRP) levels have effects on the prognosis of cancer patients. We intended to determine the prognostic value of combining the two for gastric cancer (GC). Methods Data were extracted from a clinical trial. By calculating the area under the curve (AUC) and the C‐index, the predictive value of CRPs among different time points, including preoperative (pre‐CRP), postoperative days 1, 3, and 5 (post‐CRPs), and postoperative maximum CRP (post‐CRP max ), was derived. Multivariate analysis was performed to further explore the independent variates for recurrence‐free survival (RFS). Results Finally, 401 patients were available in the present study. For RFS, higher AUC (0.692) and concordance index (0.678) of pre‐CRP were observed when compared with those of post‐CRPs. Further, among post‐CRPs, post‐CRP max had the highest predictive values (AUC: 0.591; concordance index: 0.585) among the other post‐CRPs. The threshold values in predicting RFS for pre‐CRP and post‐CRP max were 3.1 mg/L and 77.1 mg/L. Multivariate analysis showed both pre‐CRP≥3.1 mg/L (high‐pre‐CRP) and post‐CRP max ≥77.1 mg/L (high‐post‐CRP max ) were risk factors for RFS. Postoperative chemotherapy benefit was further analyzed for patients with stage II/III GC and indicated that patients with pre‐CRP<3.1 mg/L had better prognosis without benefit from postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT), p = 0.557. In high‐pre‐CRP patients, only patients with post‐CRP max ≥77.1 mg/L but not post‐CRP max <77.1 mg/L benefited from postoperative ACT (RFS: 33.2% vs 49.9% for non‐chemotherapy group and chemotherapy group, respectively, p = 0.037). Analyses for overall survival obtained the similar outcomes. Conclusions Both high‐pre‐CRP and high‐post‐CRP max are associated with worse prognosis in GC. ACT seems to only improve the prognosis for stage II/III GC with pre‐CRP≥3.1 mg/L and post‐CRP max ≥77.1 mg/L after radical gastrectomy. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings and explore the potential mechanism.