De Ritis Ratio: a Potent Marker in Cancer.

BACKGROUND: The role of conventional liver function clinical laboratory marker De Ritis Ratio in evaluating the prognosis, assisting diagnosis, and monitoring therapeutic efficacy of cancer is gaining increasing attention, especially in the last decade. According to the most recent articles, the De Ritis Ratio functions have progressed, which indicates that the De Ritis Ratio appears to be a promising tumor marker. The aim of this review was to evaluate the clinical importance from studies made on this subject. METHODS: Using the search words "De Ritis Ratio", "aspartate transaminase/alanine transaminase", "aspartate transaminase", "alanine transaminase", "cancer", "prognostic significance", "diagnostic significance", and "predictive significance", a search was carried out on PubMed. Exclusion criteria were articles never published in English and articles evaluating tumor markers in cancer not involving the De Ritis Ratio. RESULTS: As a predictor of prognosis, the De Ritis Ratio is strongly associated with prognostic risk factors and can be used to assess therapeutic efficacy. As a predictor of incidence, the De Ritis Ratio could promote the prediction of the disease progression. As a biomarker, the De Ritis Ratio is more likely to improve diagnostics by being combined with other biomarkers. Therefore, since it is easily accessible, involves no additional laborious efforts, and is a relatively inexpensive marker, the De Ritis Ratio is emerging as an attractive and clinically valuable marker in cancer. CONCLUSIONS: In the review, we explore the possible mechanisms of the De Ritis Ratio related to cancer and summarize the clinical importance of the De Ritis Ratio as a promising marker for cancer.