Prognostic value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in advanced cancer patients receiving immunotherapy

Abstract

Background The prognostic value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been extensively studied in cancer patients. However, the performance of NLR as an early marker of efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) is still understudied. We studied the utility of NLR at baseline (bNLR), before the second dose of immunotherapy (NLR2) and the NLR trend for predicting efficacy outcomes. Methods We included all patients with advanced cancer treated with ICI from June 2013 to April 2019 at La Paz University Hospital, Madrid (Spain). We examined bNLR, NLR2 and NLR trend and explored the association with progression-free survival (PFS) at 6 months, median PFS and overall survival (OS). Results We included 211 patients. PFS and OS were significantly longer in the low bNLR group than in the high bNLR group [HR 0.71 (95% CI 0.60–0.84) and HR: 0.66 (95% CI 0.55–0.79), respectively]. Regarding NLR2, patients with low NLR2 had significantly longer PFS and OS than patients with high NLR2 [HR 0.67 (95% CI 0.57–0.79) and HR: 0.60 (95% CI 0.50–0.72), respectively]. Finally, for NLR trend, PFS and OS for patients with NLR trend < 1 were significantly longer than those patients with NLR trend ≥ 1 [HR 0.59 (95% CI 0.43–0.82) and HR 0.63 (95% CI 0.44–0.90), respectively]. At the multivariate analysis for PFS and OS, bNLR, NLR2 and NLR trend were all independent prognostic factors for PFS and OS. Conclusions bNLR, NLR2 and NLR trends are independent prognostic factors for survival in patients on immunotherapy. The dynamics of NLR in patients on immunotherapy is a promising marker that needs further investigation.