The pretreatment lymphocyte to monocyte ratio predicts clinical outcome for patients with urological cancers: A meta-analysis

Abstract

BackgroundThe lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR), a novel systematic biomarker of inflammation, has been reported to be associated with the progression and prognosis of many malignant cancers. However, the relationship between LMR and survival outcome of urological cancers (UCs) remains controversial. Herein, we conducted a meta-analysis to identify the prognostic value of pretreatment LMR in patients with UCs. MethodsA literature search was performed in PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Scopus, and CINAHL databases up to July 2018. The pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and odds ratios (ORs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to evaluate the association of LMR with survival outcome and clinicopathological characteristics in UCs. ResultsA total of 17 articles containing 5552 patients were included in our study. The synthesized analysis showed that elevated pretreatment LMR level could predict favorable overall survival (OS) of UCs patients (pooled HR = 0.82, 95%CI: 0.77-0.87). Additionally, the decreased LMR level was correlated with tumor stage (OR = 1.72, 95%CI: 1.15–2.55), lymph node metastasis (OR = 1.46, 95%CI:1.06-1.99), grade (OR = 1.79, 95%CI:1.41–2.27), tumor size (OR = 2.21, 95%CI:1.81–2.68) and necrosis (OR = 1.71, 95%CI:1.36–2.16). ConclusionThe high pretreatment LMR was associated with favorable prognosis, and could be a potential prognostic biomarker in patients with UCs.