An inflammatory biomarker‐based nomogram to predict prognosis of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma: an analysis of a prospective study

Abstract

Chronic inflammation plays an important role in tumor progression. The aim of this analysis was to evaluate whether inflammatory biomarkers such as the Glasgow prognostic score (GPS), the neutrophil‐lymphocyte ratio (NLR), the platelet‐lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and the lymphocyte‐monocyte ratio (LMR) could predict the prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). In this analysis, pretreatment GPS, NLR, PLR, LMR of 388 patients who were diagnosed as nonmetastatic NPC and recruited prospectively in the 863 Program No. 2006AA02Z4B4 were assessed. Of those, the 249 cases enrolled between December 27th 2006 and July 31st 2011 were defined as the development set. The rest 139 cases enrolled between August 1st 2011 and July 31st 2013 were defined as the validation set. The variables above were analyzed in the development set, together with age, gender, Karnofsky performance score, T stage, and N stage, with respect to their impact on the disease‐specific survival (DSS) through a univariate analysis. The candidate prognostic factors then underwent a multivariate analysis. A nomogram was established to predict the DSS, by involving the independent prognostic factors. Its predction capacity was evaluated through calculating Harrell's concordance index (C‐index) in the validation set. After multivariate analysis for the development set, age (≤50 vs. >50 years old), T stage (T1–2 vs. T3–4), N stage (N0–1 vs. N2–3) and pretreatment GPS (0 vs. 1–2), NLR (≤2.5 vs. >2.5), LMR (≤2.35 vs. >2.35) were independent prognostic factors of DSS (P values were 0.002, 0.008, <0.001, 0.004, 0.018, and 0.004, respectively). A nomogram was established by involving all the factors above. Its C‐index for predicting the DSS of the validation set was 0.734 (standard error 0.056). Pretreatment GPS, NLR, and LMR were independent prognostic factors of NPC. The nomogram based on them could be used to predict the DSS of NPC patients.

Neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio as a prognostic indicator in head and neck cancer: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…A total of 15 studies published between 2013 and 2016 were included in our meta‐analysis, with sample sizes ranging from 104 to 1895 patients . The characteristics of the included studies are summarized in Table . Nine studies were from China, 2 from Japan, 1 each from Korea, India, Italy, and Austria.…”

“…The test for heterogeneity showed an I 2 value of 27%, P = .24, which did not represent heterogeneity of results. The forest plot and corresponding funnel plot are represented in Figure . The NLR cutoffs for DSS ranged from 1.9 to 3.73.…”

“…The PRISMA flow chart of the systematic review can be found in Figure . An initial search done using the search strategy (Supporting Materials) obtained an initial 900 results.…”

Prognostic significance of Glasgow prognostic score in patients with acute exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

“…The Glasgow prognostic score (GPS) is an inflammation‐based prognostic scoring system that is based on albumin and CRP levels. Recent studies have shown that GPS may reliably represent prognostic factors in patients with various malignancies including lung, nasopharyngeal and oesophageal cancer . However, the prognostic value of GPS in IPF‐AE has never been investigated.…”

Identification of Potential Therapeutic Gene Markers in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Based on Bioinformatics Analysis

“…Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is known as a unique kind of head and neck malignant tumor owing to its distinct clinical and pathological features, and geographic and ethnic distributions . NPC pathogenesis include many etiological factors, such as environmental factors, infection with Epstein Barr virus (EBV), as well as genetic susceptibility; the anatomic NPC position also serves as a microenvironmental factor in the pathogenesis of NPC .…”