Correlation of serum NLR, PLR and HALP with efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and prognosis of triple-negative breast cancer

Objective: To investigate the correlation of blood neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and hemoglobin and albumin levels and lymphocyte and platelet counts (HALP) with the efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) and the prognosis of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Methods: In this retrospective study, clinical data of 92 patients with TNBC were analyzed. The patients were treated with NAC in the Department of Gynecology of the People's Hospital of Zhuji from January 2015 to December 2018. According to treatment efficacy of NAC, patients were divided into a pathologic complete response (pCR) group (n=37) and a nonpathologic complete response (non-pCR) group (n=55). The pathological and clinical data of patients were collected, and the efficacy of NAC and influencing factors were statistically analyzed. The predicting performances of NLR, PLR and HALP for the efficacy of NAC in patients with TNBC were investigated. Patients were followed up for 3 years to obtain the all-cause mortality so as to analyze the correlation of NLR, PLR and HALP with survival time. Results: Multivariate regression analysis showed that TNM stage III (OR (95% CI): 1.742 (1.209-2.631), P=0.003), lymph nodes metastasis (OR (95% CI): 1.922 (1.492-2.983), P =0.005), high NLR (OR (95% CI): 2.261 (1.625-2.754), P<0.001), high PLR (OR (95% CI): 2.062 (1.692-2.791), P<0.001) and low HALP (OR (95% CI): 0.518 (0.365-0.734), P<0.001) were risk factors of poor NAC efficacy for TNBC. The mortality of patients in the non-pCR group was higher than that in the pCR group within 3 years (P<0.05). Survival analysis showed that the 3-year survival rate of the non-pCR group was lower than that of the pCR group (P<0.05). Furthermore, patients with high NLR, high PLR and low HALP had a lower 3-year survival rate than those with low NLR, low PLR and high HALP (P<0.05). Conclusions: Lymph node metastasis, TNM stage III, high NLR, high PLR and low HALP are risk factors for the poor efficacy of NAC for TNBC. High expression of NLR, PLR and low expression of HALP may indicate a poor prognosis of TNBC patients who failed NAC.