Preliminary study of prognostic value of NLR and PLR from pretreatment in the assessment of the patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Xinjiang Uygur population

Abstract

Objective To investigate the correlation of platelets-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) with neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) from pretreatment in the Xinjiang Uygur patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods In this retrospective analysis, 96 cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients with pathologically diagnosis were collected. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis suggested that optimum PLR and NLR cut-off point for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The patients were divided into high-PLR and low-PLR groups, high-NLR and low-NLR groups, respectively. The survival rate was calculated with Kaplan-Meier method. The Log rank statistics was used to test differences between groups. The prognostic factors that may affect patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Uighur population of Xinjiang were analyzed by COX proportional hazards models. Results For high-PLR and low-PLR groups, 5-year overall survival, and progression-free survival were 46.6% and 79.3%, 49.8% and 82.7%, respectively; the difference was statistically significant (all P<0.01). For high-NLR and low-NLR groups, 5-year overall survival rate, and progression-free survival rate were 41.3% and 41.3%, 50.8% and 82.5%, respectively; the difference was statistically significant (all P<0.01). Univariate analysis showed that N stage, clinical stage, NLR, and PLR had significantly impact on overall survival and progression-free survival (all P<0.05); multivariate analysis showed that PLR and clinical stage had statistical significance in Uighur patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma for progression-free survival and overall survival (all P<0.05). Conclusions PLR may be independent factor that influences the prognosis of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Uighur population of Xinjiang. Key words: Blood platelets/ME; Lymphocytes/ME; Nasopharyngeal neoplasms/TH; Prognosis