Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Center for Neuroscience, Brussels, Belgium.
Scalab, Université Lille 3, Lille, France.
J Immunol Res. 2018 May 8;2018:4874193. doi: 10.1155/2018/4874193. eCollection 2018.
The vagus nerve may slow tumor progression because it inhibits inflammation. This study examined the relationship between a new vagal neuroimmunomodulation (NIM) index and survival in fatal cancers.
We retroactively derived markers of vagal nerve activity indexed by heart rate variability (HRV), specifically the root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD), from patients' electrocardiograms near diagnosis. The NIM index was the ratio of RMSSD to C-reactive protein levels (RMSSD/CRP). Sample 1 included 202 Belgian patients with advanced pancreatic cancer (PC), while sample 2 included 71 Belgian patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In both samples, we examined the overall survival, while in sample 2, we additionally examined the survival time in deceased patients.
In PC patients, in a multivariate Cox regression controlling for confounders, the NIM index had a protective relative risk (RR) of 0.68 and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of 0.51-0.92. In NSCLC patients, the NIM index also had a protective RR of 0.53 and 95% CI of 0.32-0.88. Finally, in NSCLC, patients with a higher NIM index survived more days (475.2) than those with lower NIM (285.1) ( < 0.05).
The NIM index, reflecting vagal modulation of inflammation, may be a new independent prognostic biomarker in fatal cancers.
迷走神经可以减缓肿瘤的进展，因为它可以抑制炎症。本研究检查了新的迷走神经免疫调节（NIM）指数与致命癌症患者生存之间的关系。
我们从患者诊断前的心电图中回溯性地获得了心率变异性（HRV）标记物，即均方根差（RMSSD），作为迷走神经活动的指标。NIM 指数是 RMSSD 与 C 反应蛋白水平（RMSSD/CRP）的比值。样本 1 包括 202 名比利时晚期胰腺癌（PC）患者，样本 2 包括 71 名比利时非小细胞肺癌（NSCLC）患者。在这两个样本中，我们检查了总生存率，而在样本 2 中，我们还检查了死亡患者的生存时间。
在 PC 患者中，在多变量 Cox 回归控制混杂因素后，NIM 指数的保护相对风险（RR）为 0.68，95%置信区间（95%CI）为 0.51-0.92。在 NSCLC 患者中，NIM 指数也具有保护 RR 为 0.53，95%CI 为 0.32-0.88。最后，在 NSCLC 中，NIM 指数较高的患者比 NIM 指数较低的患者存活天数更多（475.2 天 vs 285.1 天， < 0.05）。
反映迷走神经对炎症的调节的 NIM 指数可能是致命癌症的新的独立预后生物标志物。
