Initial Platelet-To-Lymphocyte Count As Prognostic Factor in Limited-Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract

Aim: To assessed the prognostic significance of pretreatment platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer (LS-SCLC). Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 286 patients with LS-SCLC. Results: Sixty received chemotherapy alone, 158 sequential chemo- and radiotherapy, 38 concurrent chemo- and radiotherapy and 30 surgery combined with therapy. The cut-off value of pretreatment PLR was 152.1. The median progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in the low and high PLR groups were 27.4 versus 19.5 (p = 0.002) and 14.9 versus 11.4 (p = 0.003) months. Multivariate analysis confirmed that PLR was an independent prognostic factor of OS (hazard ratio = 1.326; p = 0.040) and PFS (hazard ratio = 1.306; p = 0.044), respectively. Conclusion: Pretreatment PLR is an independent prognostic factor of OS and PFS in patients with LS-SCLC.

Keywords:

• limited-stage
• neoplasm
• platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio
• small cell lung cancer
• therapy

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.

Author contributions

Q Zhang and H Yu conceived and designed the study. Q Zhang, Y Qu, H Liu, H Jia and S Pei collected the experimental data. Y Qu analyzed experimental results and verified the accuracy of the data. F Wen took part in the discussion and gave some original ideas. Q Zhang and H Yu wrote the manuscript. Y Qu, H Liu and H Jia reviewed and edited the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.