Prognostic Relevance of Pretreatment Peripheral Neutrophil Count and Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte Ratio in Primary Cutaneous Angiosarcoma

Abstract

Systemic inflammatory response markers, including neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio and monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio, are useful prognostic factors for various malignant tumours. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical relevance of these markers in primary cutaneous angiosarcoma. Twenty-six patients were retrospectively divided into 2 groups according to pretreatment peripheral blood cell counts or systemic inflammatory response marker levels; overall survival and progression-free survival were compared. Univariate analysis found that high neutrophil count (> 3.1×10 9 /l), high neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (> 2.4), high platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (> 175) and low lymphocyte count (≤ 1.3×10 9 /l) were related to shorter overall survival, while high neutrophil and low lymphocyte groups had shorter progression-free survival. In multivariate analysis, high neutrophil count and high neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (hazard ratio 7.44 and 5.04, 95% confidence interval 1.48–37.2 and 1.26–20.1, respectively) were identified as independent prognostic factors for poor overall survival. These results indicate that systemic inflammatory response markers serve as prognostic predictors in primary cutaneous angiosarcoma, as well as in other types of soft-tissue sarcoma.

The Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio as a Biomarker in Cutaneous Oncology: A Systematic Review of Evidence beyond Malignant Melanoma

“…Two small retrospective studies from Japan have reported on the prognostic role of hematological biomarkers in primary cutaneous angiosarcomas. In a retrospective study of 26 patients with primary cutaneous angiosarcoma, a high NLR (>2.4) was an independent prognostic factor for shorter overall survival (HR = 5.04, 95%CI: 1.26–20.1; p = 0.022) [ 59 ]. Another, case–control study reported a statistically significant difference in NLR and PLR values between 17 patients with angiosarcoma of the face and scalp (ASFS) and 56 healthy matched controls.…”

Impact of Pretreatment Systemic Inflammatory Markers on Treatment Persistence with Biologics and Conventional Systemic Therapy: A Retrospective Study of Patients with Psoriasis Vulgaris and Psoriatic Arthritis

“…In a retrospective analysis of psoriasis patients in China, Egypt, and Turkey, NLR and PLR were also found to be elevated and correlated with disease severity [35][36][37]. The combination of NLR and PLR can predict adverse events in patients with acute myocardial infarction and prognosis of malignant tumors [38,39]. There is no consistent trend as to which marker, NLR or PLR, has a stronger association with disease severity or predicts systemic inflammation more accurately.…”