Neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio predicts chemotherapy outcomes in patients with advanced colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND: Advances in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) in the last decade have significantly improved survival; however, simple biomarkers to predict response or toxicity have not been identified, which are applicable to all community oncology settings worldwide. The use of inflammatory markers based on differential white-cell counts, such as the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), may be simple and readily available biomarkers. METHODS: Clinical information and baseline laboratory parameters were available for 349 patients, from two independent cohorts, with unresectable mCRC receiving first-line palliative chemotherapy. Associations between baseline prognostic variables, including inflammatory markers such as the NLR and tumour response, progression and survival were investigated. RESULTS: In the training cohort, combination-agent chemotherapy (P = 0.001) and NLR <= 5 (P = 0.003) were associated with improved clinical benefit. The ECOG performance status >= 1 (P = 0.002), NLR>5 (P = 0.01), hypoalbuminaemia (P = 0.03) and single-agent chemotherapy (P < 0.0001) were associated with increased risk of progression. The ECOG performance status >= 1 (P = 0.004) and NLR>5 (P 0.002) predicted worse overall survival (OS). The NLR was confirmed to independently predict OS in the validation cohort (P < 0.0001). Normalisation of the NLR after one cycle of chemotherapy in a subset of patients resulted in improved progression-free survival (P = 0.012). CONCLUSION: These results have highlighted NLR as a potentially useful clinical biomarker of systemic inflammatory response in predicting clinically meaningful outcomes in two independent cohorts. Results of this study have also confirmed the importance of a chronic systemic inflammatory response influencing clinical outcomes in patients with mCRC. British Journal of Cancer (2011) 104, 1288-1295. doi:10.1038/bjc.2011.100 www.bjcancer.com Published online 29 March 2011 (C) 2011 Cancer Research UK