Pretreatment neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio as a prognostic factor in triple negative breast cancer in a Hispanic cohort

• Published in: European journal of cancer (1990) Vol. 50; pp. S195 - S196
• Main Authors: Campos-Gomez, S, Mortera-Casillas, J, Serrano-Ortiz, R, Cruz-Ramos, M, Tellez-Trevilla, G, Machado-Reyes, M, Barrera-Franco, J L, Cabrera-Galeana, P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01-03-2014
• ISSN: 0959-8049; 1879-0852

Background: The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been proposed as an indicator of systemic inflammatory response. Several studies suggest a negative impact of increased NLR for patient's survival in different types of cancer. Therefore, the aim of our study was to investigate the prognostic impact of pretreatment NLR in a large cohort of triple negative breast cancer patients. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively studied patients diagnosed with primary triple negative breast cancer that had completed all phases of primary treatment from 2005 to 2012 at a single centre. Overall survival (OS) was assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method. To evaluate the independent prognostic significance of NLR univariate and multivariate Cox regression models were applied. Results: A total of 118 patients were eligible for analysis. Patients with higher NLR (2.5 [< or =, slant] NLR) showed significantly lower overall survival rate than those with lower NLR (NLR <2.5) (65 months vs. 43 p = 0.007). Higher NLR along with Body Mass Index were independently correlated with poor prognosis (HR 1.1, p < 0.01). Conclusion: Patients with an elevated pretreatment NLR showed poorer overall survival than patients without elevated NLR in triple negative breast cancer subtype. Further validation and a feasibility study are required before it can be considered for clinical use.