Prognostic role of peripheral blood lymphocyte/monocyte ratio at diagnosis in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: a meta-analysis

Abstract

To evaluate the prognostic value of the absolute lymphocyte count/absolute monocyte count ratio (ALC/AMC ratio) at diagnosis in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), we performed a meta-analysis of published studies that provided survival information with reference to the ALC/AMC ratio at diagnosis. Nine studies covering a total of 4198 subjects were included in this analysis. The summary hazard ratios of low ALC/AMC ratio for overall survival were 2.00 (p = 0.000) in the population that received R-CHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone) and 1.12 (p = 0.479) in the population that received CHOP. The corresponding ratios for event-free survival and progression-free survival were 1.93 (p = 0.000) and 2.31 (p = 0.000) in the population that received R-CHOP. These results may justify risk-adapted therapeutic strategies for patients with DLBCL treated with R-CHOP to account for the ALC/AMC ratio at diagnosis.

Keywords::

• Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
• prognosis
• lymphocyte
• monocyte
• meta-analysis

Acknowledgements

We thank the library of Wenzhou Medical University for entering the database and acquiring the full texts. This study was supported by the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. LQ14H080002.

Potential conflict of interest

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