Investigation of association between clinically significant prostate cancer, obesity and platelet to-lymphocyte ratio and neutrophil -to-lymphocyte ratio

• Published in: BMC urology Vol. 24; no. 1; pp. 226 - 7
• Main Authors: Dahan, Johanna, Pinthus, Jehonathan, Delouya, Guila, Taussky, Daniel, Duceppe, Emmanuelle, de Jesus, Amanda, Leong, Darryl
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 16-10-2024; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Aged; Analysis; Androgens; Blood platelets; Blood Platelets - pathology; Blood tests; Body mass index; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular diseases; Cell number; Clinical significance; Complications and side effects; Confounding (Statistics); Cytokines; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Diagnosis; Health aspects; Humans; Hypertension; Inflammation; Investigations; Leukocyte Count; Leukocytes (neutrophilic); Lymphocyte Count; Lymphocytes; Male; Medical prognosis; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Metastasis; Middle Aged; Mortality; Neutrophils; NLR; Obesity; Obesity - blood; Obesity - complications; Platelet Count; Platelets; Prognosis; Prospective Studies; Prostate cancer; Prostatic Neoplasms - blood; Prostatic Neoplasms - pathology; Radiation therapy; Regression analysis; Smoking; Statistical analysis; Vascular endothelial growth factor; Canada; Obesity; Inflammation; NLR; Prostate cancer
• ISSN: 1471-2490; 1471-2490
• DOI: 10.1186/s12894-024-01617-2

Several blood markers of inflammation are elevated in prostate cancer (PCa) and have prognostic value. Little is known about the relationship between these markers, PCa, and other factors associated with chronic inflammation, such as smoking and obesity. We analyzed the interaction between neutrophil and platelet counts indexed to lymphocyte count (NLR and PLR, resp.) and clinically significant PCa (csPCa), accounting for the potential confounding factors of systemic inflammation.
NLR and PLR were evaluated in a multicenter prospective study in 443 patients. CsPCa was defined as a Gleason ≥ 4 + 3. Differences between patients with csPCa and non-csPCA were evaluated using the chi-square test, analysis of variance or the Kruskal-Wallis test. Multivariable logistic regression analysis adjusted for smoking, hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, and in separate models, either body mass index or waist-to-hip ratio was used to characterize the relationship between inflammation and csPCa.
None of the factors such as plateletcrit, NLR, and PLR were significantly different between patients with csPCa or non-significant PCa. After adjustment, there was no association between PLR, NLR, plateletcrit or platelet count and csPCa. In an exploratory analysis, there was no association between markers of inflammation and PSA levels > 10 ng/mL. When testing different NLR cutoffs to predict csPCa in ROC analysis, none reached a clinically meaningful value.
In contrast to previous studies, we found no significant association between easily available blood markers of inflammation and indices of PCa aggressiveness. Further research is required to determine whether inflammation promotes PCa. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03127631. Date of registration: April 25, 2017.