Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio Predicts Prognosis in Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Patients Who Received Cabazitaxel Chemotherapy.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES

An elevated neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been suggested to be associated with a poor prognosis in several cancers. We evaluated the utility of an elevated NLR as a biomarker to predict the prognosis of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients treated with cabazitaxel (CBZ).

METHODS

We analyzed 47 patients who received CBZ chemotherapy for mCRPC in our institutions. The NLR was calculated using the neutrophil and lymphocyte counts before CBZ chemotherapy. We determined the NLR cut-off value based on the sensitivity and specificity levels derived from area under the receiver operator characteristic curves for death. A multivariate analysis was performed to investigate the association between the NLR and the prognosis.

RESULTS

The median overall survival (OS) after CBZ was 10.0 months (range: 6.3-13.2). The median OS was shorter in patients with a high NLR (≥3.83) than in those with a low NLR (<3.83) (5.8 versus 13.2 months, = 0.018). In the multivariate analysis, the NLR, patient age, and lymph node (LN) metastasis were independent predictors of the OS (hazard ratio 3.01, = 0.030; hazard ratio 3.10, = 0.029; hazard ratio 12.38, = 0.001, resp.).

CONCLUSIONS

NLR might be a useful prognostic biomarker in mCRPC patients treated with CBZ.