Outcomes prediction in pre-operative radiotherapy locally advanced rectal cancer: leucocyte assessment as immune biomarker.

OBJECTIVE: Leukocytes are hypothesized to reflect the inflammatory tumor microenvironment. We aimed to validate their prognostic significance in a large cohort of patients treated with pre-operative radiation for locally advanced rectal cancer (RC). RESULTS: From 2004 to 2015, 257 RC patients with available biological data underwent a pre-operative radiotherapy, with a median age of 66 years. The median rectal EQD2 was 49.2Gy. Most of patients experienced concurrent chemotherapy (n = 245, 95.4%), mainly with 5-FU (83.3%). Clear surgical margins (i.e. complete resection) were achieved in 234 patients (91.1%). A complete (Mandard TRG1: n = 35, 13.6%) or almost complete pathological response (Mandard TRG2: n = 56, 21.8%) were achieved in 91 patients (35.4%). With a median follow-up of 46.1 months, 8 patients (3.1%) experienced local relapse, 38 (14.8%) experienced metastases and 45 (17.5%) died. Elevated pre-radiation neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR > 2.8) was identified as an independent predictive factor of increased local relapse, of decreased progression-free survival and overall survival in multivariate analysis. Elevated NLR was marginally associated with incomplete pathological response in multivariate analysis, suggesting a possible value as a biomarker of radio-sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS: Pre-radiation NLR is a simple and robust biomarker for risk stratification in locally advanced RC patients undergoing pre-operative radiotherapy, and might select the subpopulation eligible to treatment intensification or to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Clinical records from consecutive patients treated in a single institution between 2004 and 2015 with curative-intent radiotherapy were retrospectively analyzed. Classical prognosis factors of RC and peripheral immune markers based on lymphocytes and neutrophil counts were studied.

[Adjuvant therapy for breast cancer patients: treatment decision tree from a French cancer network]. / Traitement adjuvant du cancer du sein: création d'un arbre de décision thérapeutique au sein d'un réseau de soins.

Although the benefit of adjuvant therapy has largely been demonstrated for patients with local breast cancer, therapeutic indications remain controversial. The French regional cancer network Oncora investigated the decision-making process for this disease. Based on a thorough review of the literature, the risk of relapse and the potential benefit of adjuvant treatments for each group of patients were evaluated. A consensus decision-tree was drawn in which chemotherapy is proposed only to patients in whom it is expected to decrease the risk of relapse by at least 5 %. This approach, based on a widely accepted decision-making model, makes it possible to offer all patients of the network homogeneous treatment options. However, due to the subjectivity of risk/benefit estimations, patients themselves should become more involved in the decision-making process.