Prognostic and clinicopathologic significance of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: evidence from a meta-analysis

Abstract

PurposeEvidence from an increasing number of studies has demonstrated that the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a prognostic factor for various cancers. However, it is unclear whether NLR predicts prognosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). We conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the prognostic and clinicopathologic significance of NLR in patients with ESCC.Patients and methodsSelected studies were identified by searches in PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases and filtered using our prepared criteria. The hazard ratio (HR) and odds ratio were chosen as effect measures to assess the prognostic role of NLR and its clinicopathologic significance in ESCC. In total, nine studies containing 2,513 patients were enrolled.ResultsWe demonstrated that elevated NLR was associated with worse overall survival in ESCC patients (pooled HR =1.314; 95% confidence interval, 1.164–1.484; P<0.001). Elevated NLR was also associated with unfavorable characteristics regarding depth of tumor invasion, tumor size, clinical stage, and differentiation degree.ConclusionThe results of our meta-analysis suggest that a high NLR value might represent a poor prognosis and worse clinicopathologic characteristics for patients with ESCC.

Neutrophil‐lymphocyte ratio is associated with prognosis in patients who underwent potentially curative resection for gastric cancer

“…Although the impact of NLR on worse prognosis still not a consensus, 27 the vast majority of reports demonstrate that higher NLR values predicts worse prognosis in patients with solid tumors, for example, breast, 28 lung, 29 bladder, 30 pancreas, 31 liver, 32 esophagus, 33 colon and rectum, 34 and thyroid. 35 The relation between gastric cancer and NLR was first demonstrated by an univariate analysis in 1998 36 ; the confirmation of worse prognosis in a multivariate analysis was reported 9 years later.…”

The clinical use of pretreatment NLR, PLR, and LMR in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: evidence from a meta-analysis

“…Yodying et al analyzed seven studies including 1,540 EC patients to investigate the prognostic role of NLR and PLR in EC. 41 Huang et al 42 focused on the relationship between NLR and ESCC. Nine studies with 2,513 patients were included in their study.…”

Prognostic value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in melanoma

“…[ 10 , 11 ] These hematologic indices include C-reactive protein, [ 11 , 12 ] the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio, [ 13 , 14 ] and the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR). [ 15 – 17 ] The NLR, which is presented as the number of circulating neutrophils divided by lymphocyte counts, has gained much attention. [ 10 ] This is because the NLR is derived from routine blood tests and is cost free.…”