C reactive protein to albumin ratio as prognostic marker in primary and secondary myelofibrosis

Abstract

We retrospectively investigated C reactive protein to albumin ratio (CAR) in a cohort of 142 patients with myelofibrosis [101 primary (PMF); 41 secondary (SMF)] and compared it to hematological and clinical parameters. Among other associations, higher CAR was significantly associated with higher grade of bone marrow fibrosis, lower frequency of Calreticulin (CALR) mutations, presence of constitutional symptoms, massive splenomegaly, transfusion dependency, blast phase disease, lower hemoglobin, lower platelets, higher ferritin and higher lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (p < .05 for all analyses). Higher CAR was able to predict inferior survival in PMF independently of DIPSS [hazard ratio (HR)=2.17; p = .015 for high CAR and HR = 2.05; p < .001 for DIPSS] and in SMF independently of Mysec-PM (HR = 6.48; p = .022 for high CAR and HR = 2.63; p = .013 for Mysec-PM) demonstrating its good prognostic potential. CAR seems to be an independent and prognostically relevant parameter, both in PMF and SMF, and might aid in timely recognition of most vulnerable patients.

Keywords:

• Myeloproliferative neoplasm
• myelofibrosis
• C reactive protein
• albumin
• survival

Informed consent

All subjects provided written informed consent for molecular analyses.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the Institutional Review Boards.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).