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Increased neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio independently predicts poor survival in non‐metastatic triple‐negative breast cancer patients
Author(s) -
Qiu Xiangting,
Song Yucui,
Cui Yanxiang,
Liu Yan
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
iubmb life
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.132
H-Index - 113
eISSN - 1521-6551
pISSN - 1521-6543
DOI - 10.1002/iub.1745
Subject(s) - hazard ratio , medicine , neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio , oncology , proportional hazards model , triple negative breast cancer , confidence interval , breast cancer , stage (stratigraphy) , multivariate analysis , cancer , overall survival , gastroenterology , biology , paleontology
Inflammation plays an important role in tumor initiation, progression, and metastasis. The neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is widely used to evaluate global inflammation in various tumor types. However, the prognostic role of NLR in non‐metastatic triple‐negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients was poorly known. The aim of this study was to explore the association between pre‐treatment NLR and survival in TNBC patients. Data were collected for patients with stages I–III TNBC from 2006 to 2013 at Linyi Central Hospital to analyze pre‐treatment NLR and survival. Overall survival (OS) and disease‐free survival (DFS) were estimated by the Kaplan–Meier method, and Cox analysis was performed to determine clinicopathological parameters for their prognostic relevance. A total of 406 patients were eligible. Patients with NLR lower than 2.85 exhibited significantly higher OS ( P < 0.001) and DFS ( P < 0.001) than patients with higher NLR. Higher pre‐treatment NLR was independently correlated with poor OS and DFS, with hazard ratios of 2.69 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.94–3.72, P = 0.001) and 2.13 (95% CI: 1.68–2.65, P = 0.008), respectively, in the Cox proportional multivariate hazard model. In conclusion, our results indicate that pre‐treatment NLR may be correlated with OS and DFS in early‐stage TNBC patients, and that it may have considerable clinical applications. © 2018 IUBMB Life, 70(6):529–535, 2018