Pretreatment leukocyte ratios and concentrations as predictors of outcome in dogs with cutaneous mast cell tumours

Abstract

Leukocyte ratios correlate with outcome in several human cancers. Little is known about their prognostic significance in mast cell tumour (MCT). The aim of the study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of pretreatment leukocyte concentrations and their ratios in dogs with MCT for survival. Medical records of 92 dogs with MCT were retrospectively reviewed. Tumour diagnosis was made by tumour biopsy or fine-needle aspirate. Only dogs without prior treatment were included. Eosinophil, lymphocyte, monocyte and neutrophil concentration were obtained by ADVIA 2120™ (Siemens Healthcare, Vienna, Austria). Neutrophil-to-eosinophil ratio (NER), lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) were calculated from collected leukocyte concentrations. Relative eosinophil concentration (REC), NER (P < 0.001), NLR (P = 0.001) and LMR (P < 0.001) were significant prognostic factors for outcome in univariate analysis. REC (P = 0.008) and NER (P = 0.001) remained independent predictors of survival in multiple analyses. Leukocyte concentrations and ratios, especially REC and NER may serve as prognostic indicators in MCT.

Evaluation of leukocyte counts and neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio as predictors of local recurrence of feline injection site sarcoma after curative intent surgery

“…Surprisingly, when WBCC, NC, NLR were considered together in the Cox regression model, only WBCC remained prognostic for LR, while NLR and NC lost their significance. This finding is in contrast with previous reports in human and canine oncology . Indeed, NLR and other leukocyte ratios reportedly have higher prognostic impact than leukocyte counts due to their greater stability and lower susceptibility to fluctuations of single cell populations caused by pathophysiological changes .…”

“…This finding is in contrast with previous reports in human and canine oncology . Indeed, NLR and other leukocyte ratios reportedly have higher prognostic impact than leukocyte counts due to their greater stability and lower susceptibility to fluctuations of single cell populations caused by pathophysiological changes . Since NLR takes into account both the impact of variations of NC and LC, the fact that NLR was inferior in predicting LR may be due to the lack of significance of LC: inclusion of this variable in the ratio may have reduced the prognostic significance of NLR.…”

“…In human medicine, higher values of pretreatment NLR have been correlated with poorer prognosis for several solid malignancies, including STS . The prognostic/diagnostic value of different leukocyte populations, such as neutrophils, lymphocytes, eosinophils, and monocytes, and their ratios has been explored in canine solid and lymphoproliferative neoplasms . In a recent paper, NLR was significantly higher in dogs with STS than in those with benign soft tissue lesions, although the parameter was not predictive of tumour grade .…”

“…A few papers have explored the prevalence of different leukocyte populations and T‐lymphocyte subsets in tumour‐bearing vs healthy dogs . Furthermore, leukocyte counts and ratios have been proposed as diagnostic and prognostic tools for dogs with lymphoma, osteosarcoma, mast cell tumours and STS . Yet, the prognostic impact of peripheral leukocyte counts and ratios, including NLR, has not been assessed in feline medicine.…”

Patient and tumour factors influencing canine mast cell tumour histological grade and mitotic index

“…This makes prognosticating for individual patients challenging. Many clinical aspects of canine cutaneous MCTs have been studied including tumour location, tumour volume, tumour growth rate, tumour stage and patient leukocyte ratios, but no single parameter adequately predicts clinical behavior …”