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The elevated preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio predicts poor prognosis in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma patients undergoing hepatectomy

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Tumor Biology

Abstract

A high preoperative peripheral blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been reported to be a predictor of poor survival in patients with various cancers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictive significance of the NLR in patients undergoing hepatectomy for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). From 2005 to 2011, 322 patients who underwent hepatectomy for ICC were enrolled in this retrospective study. Clinicopathological parameters, including NLR, were evaluated to identify predictors of overall and recurrence-free survival after hepatectomy. The best cutoff for NLR was 2.49, and 177 of 322 patients (54.9 %) had an NLR ≥ 2.49. The 5-year survival rate after hepatectomy was 51.1 % in patients with NLR < 2.49 and 24.8 % in those with NLR ≥ 2.49 (P = 0.0001). Univariate analyses revealed that NLR was significantly associated with recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS; both P < 0.05). Multivariable analyses revealed that elevated NLR independently predicted poorer OS (P = 0.003, hazard ratio [HR] = 1.600). In summary, our results indicate that elevated NLR is a promising independent predictor of poor survival after hepatectomy in patients with ICC.

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Abbreviations

ICC:

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

HR:

Hazard ratio

OS:

Overall survival

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Acknowledgments

This work was jointly supported by National Natural Science Funds of China (No. 81272724 and No. 81172277) and the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program; 2011CB504001).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, 136 Yi Xue Yuan Road, Shanghai, 200032, China

      Qing Chen, Liu-Xiao Yang, Xue-Dong Li, Dan Yin, Er-Bao Chen, Lei Yu, Zheng-Jun Zhou, Shao-Lai Zhou, Ying-Hong Shi, Jia Fan, Jian Zhou & Zhi Dai

    2. Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China

      Dan Yin, Jia Fan & Jian Zhou

    3. Department of Radiation Oncology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China

      Shi-Ming Shi

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    1. Qing Chen
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    Correspondence to Zhi Dai.

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    Qing Chen, Liu-Xiao Yang and Xue-Dong Li contributed equally to this work.

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    Fig. S1

    Comparison of overall survival rates in the low (<1.71) and high (≥1.71) dNLR groups. The 5-year overall survival rate was 41.6 % in low (<1.71) dNLR group, which was significantly higher compared with the high (≥1.71) dNLR group (30.9 %, P = 0.0093) (TIFF 16738 kb)

    Fig. S2

    Comparison of recurrence-free survival rates in the low (<1.71) and high (≥1.71) dNLR groups. The recurrence-free survival rate was significantly higher in the low dNLR group than in the high dNLR group (P = 0.0163) (TIFF 17436 kb)

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    Chen, Q., Yang, LX., Li, XD. et al. The elevated preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio predicts poor prognosis in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma patients undergoing hepatectomy. Tumor Biol. 36, 5283–5289 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-015-3188-6

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