Prognostic significance of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in biliary tract cancers: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

BackgroundInflammation was considered to perform crucial roles in the development and metastasis of malignancies. A heightened neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio has been described to be associated with detrimental survivals in different malignancies. Debate remains over the impact of heightened neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio on survivals in biliary tract cancer. The review evaluated the prognostic value of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio in biliary tract cancer.MethodsMEDLINE, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and the Chinese SinoMed were systematically searched for relevant articles. Associations between neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio and long-term outcomes were expressed as the hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals. The odds ratio was utilized to assess the association between neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio and clinicopathological parameters.ResultsFourteen studies consisting of 3217 patients were analyzed: 1278 (39.73%) in the high pretreatment neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio group and 1939 (60.27%) in the low pretreatment neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio one. The results proved that heightened pretreatment neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio was significantly associated with detrimental overall survival and relapse free survival for biliary tract cancer patients. In addition, elevated neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio was positively correlated with higher carbohydrate antigen 19-9 levels, advanced TNM staging and greater lymph node involvement.ConclusionThis meta-analysis marked that an increased pretreatment neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio was significantly linked with detrimental long-term outcomes and clinicopathological parameters for patients with biliary tract cancer.

Prognostic role of neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio in head and neck cancer: A meta‐analysis

“…Recent meta-analyses of cancer of the cervix, breast, lung, colorectum, prostate, kidney, esophagus, and liver have been published. [44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52] The pooled HRs for OS in these studies range from 1.23 to 2.102. The results of our analyses are comparable to those of previously reported meta-analyses of other types of cancer.…”

“…However, the HRs for OS in the oropharyngeal cancer subgroup was much higher than that in other head and neck subgroups in this study and in subgroups of other cancers in previous studies. 6,[44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52] One of the reasons for this discrepancy is that the HRs for the oropharyngeal cancer subgroup came from only 1 study enrolling 76 patients. Another reason for the discrepancy is that oropharyngeal cancer consists of 2 distinct types of cancer: HPV-negative oropharyngeal cancer, which is caused by excessive smoking and drinking, and HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer.…”

Prognostic role of the advanced lung cancer inflammation index in cancer patients: a meta-analysis

“…At the early stages of tumorigenesis, various inflammatory cells and proinflammatory cytokines are activated, and these promote the formation of new blood vessels and lymphatic ducts, providing a tumor microenvironment beneficial to the growth and differentiation of tumor cells [9]. At later stages, cancer-related inflammation can destroy the function of immune cells, leading to a pro-metastatic environment [10][11][12][13]. Therefore, inflammatory markers are expected to be valuable prognostic biomarkers in cancer.…”

Platelet count and platelet‐lymphocyte ratio as prognostic markers for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: Meta‐analysis

“…14 Platelet count and plateletlymphocyte ratio (PLR) are hematologic makers that have shown prognostic abilities across many types of cancers. [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] Although the association between these markers and HNSCC prognosis has been investigated, the results have been inconsistent. [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46] Among these studies, only 1 study was prospective.…”