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Prognostic significance of the lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio in patients with small cell lung cancer

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Abstract

We investigated the role of the lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) at diagnosis in patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) treated with standard chemotherapy. We retrospectively reviewed all SCLC patients who received frontline platinum-based chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy. The cut-off LMR value at diagnosis was 4.19 according to time-dependent receiver-operating characteristic analysis. A total of 188 patients were divided into two groups according to the LMR at diagnosis (low vs. high LMR). Of the 171 patients evaluated for treatment response, 14 (12.4 %) in the low LMR group and 1 (1.7 %) in the high LMR group were non-responders (p = 0.025). In the whole patient cohort, progression-free survival and overall survival were significantly shorter in the low LMR group (low vs. high: median 6.4 vs. 7.1 months, p = 0.001; median 10.6 vs. 13.1 months, p = 0.003, respectively). On multivariate analysis, a low LMR at diagnosis was an independent unfavourable prognostic factor for predicting survival. The LMR at diagnosis could be helpful for predicting prognosis in SCLC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, Gyeongsang National University School of Medicine, Gangnam-ro 79, Jinju, 660-702, Republic of Korea

    Se-Il Go, Haa-Na Song, Myoung Hee Kang, Un Seok Lee, Hye Jung Choi, Jung-Hun Kang & Gyeong-Won Lee

  2. Department of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health Center, Dong-A University College of Medicine, Busan, 602-715, Republic of Korea

    Rock Bum Kim

  3. Division of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, Gyeongsang National University School of Medicine, Jinju, 660-702, Republic of Korea

    Seung Jun Lee, Yu Ji Cho, Yi Yeong Jeong, Ho Cheol Kim & Jong Deog Lee

  4. Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Samsung Changwon Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Changwon, 630-723, Republic of Korea

    Seok-Hyun Kim

  5. Gyeongsang Institute of Health Sciences, Jinju, 660-702, Republic of Korea

    Jung-Hun Kang & Gyeong-Won Lee

  6. Department of Experimental Therapeutics, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 77030, USA

    Hui Ling

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  1. Se-Il Go
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Correspondence to Gyeong-Won Lee.

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Go, SI., Kim, R.B., Song, HN. et al. Prognostic significance of the lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio in patients with small cell lung cancer. Med Oncol 31, 323 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-014-0323-y

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