After neoadjuvant chemotherapy platelet/lymphocyte ratios negatively correlate with prognosis in gastric cancer patients.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Circulating predictors prognostic factors of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, which identify the patients who are potential possibly to benefit from it are limited at present. In this research, we aimed to compare the prognostic significance of neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in patients with locally advance gastric carcinoma who were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) followed by D2 gastrectomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From 2007 to 2015, 91 patients with locally advanced gastric cancer treated with NAC followed by D2 gastrectomy included in this retrospective cohort study. The correlation of clinical data, including tumor regression, response evaluation, tumor location, pathological type, systemic therapy, tumor size (cm), neural invasion, lymphatic-vascular invasion, ypTNM stage, and survival prognosis were analyzed. RESULTS: Platelet/lymphocyte ratio and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio in gastric cancer patients were higher than in matched normal volunteers. PLR levels higher after neoadjuvant chemotherapy are associated with worse OS. Multivariate Cox proportional analysis showed that pre-neoadjuvant chemotherapy PLR was an independent prognostic factor. CONCLUSIONS: Pre-neoadjuvant chemotherapy PLR may be a feasible biomarker for survival prognosis in patients with locally advanced gastric cancer. PLR and NLR were reduced after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. After neoadjuvant chemotherapy, PLR level was negatively correlated with survival prognosis.