The prognostic value of before treatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Objective The aim of this analysis was to evaluate the prognostic significance of inflammatory biomarkers (NLR, dNLR, PLR and LMR) in NPC patients. Methods This was a retrospective analysis of 111 NPC patients from January 2013 and December 2016. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted to determine the cut-off values of these inflammatory biomarkers. Univariate analysis and multivariate Cox regression model were used to evaluate the association between these parameters and progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Results The optimal critical value of NLR was 2.02, by which cases were divided into high NLR group (NLR >= 2.02) and low NLR group (NLR < 2.02). The elevated NLR was significantly associated with decreased OS (P = 0.009) and remained significant in multivariate analysis (HR 8.48, 95% CI 1.69-42.46, P = 0.009). Conclusions The before treatment NLR may be an independent prognostic biomarker for OS in patients with NPC. NLR, dNLR and PLR might be a useful complement to TNM staging in the prognosis evaluation of NPC patients.