Pre/post-treatment dynamic of inflammatory markers has prognostic value in patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma managed by stereotactic body radiation therapy

Abstract

Purpose: The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) are inflammatory indexes that may reflect immune response to tumors and prognosis. We investigated the prognostic values of pre-treatment and post-treatment NLR and PLR and changes in those ratios in patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma (sHCC) treated with stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). Patients and methods: Sixty patients who received SBRT were retrospectively reviewed. NLR and PLR were calculated by division of neutrophil and platelet counts, respectively, by lymphocyte counts. Independent factors for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were determined by the Kaplan–Meier method, log-rank test, and Cox multivariate regression. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were also calculated. Results: The median follow-up was 36.9 (range: 4.1–73.5) months. Median PFS was 21.4 (range: 1.8–66.9) months. The 1-year and 2-year PFS rates were 76.7% and 55.0%, respectively. The 1-year and 2-year OS rates were 95.0% and 78.3%, respectively. In multivariate analysis, post-treatment PLR ≥263.0 indicated both poor PFS (HR: 3.70; 95% CI: 1.07–12.76, p=0.038) and OS (HR: 3.23; 95% CI: 1.01–9.11, p=0.043) for sHCC patients treated with SBRT. In addition, the presence of hepatitis infection and a low level of red blood cell count were also proved to be significantly associated with patients’ poor prognosis (p<0.05 for each). Post-treatment increase in NLR ≥2.7-fold was shown to be a negative independent predictor of inferior OS (HR: 3.43; 95% CI: 1.14–10.38, p=0.029). Conclusion: High post-treatment PLR and change in NLR ≥2.7-fold were associated with poor prognosis in patients treated with SBRT and might be considered as reliable and independent prognostic biomarkers for patients with sHCC.