Background: The prognostic significance of the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio for progression free survival in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma is unclear.
Materials and methods: We retrospectively reviewed 45 patients diagnosed with metastatic RCC previously treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors from two centers, Akdeniz University Hospital and Afyon Kocatepe University. The prognostic value of the pretreatment neutrophil- tolymphocyte ratio, and other clinical and laboratory parameters were assessed by univariate and multivariate analysis.
Results: Median progression free survival (PFS) was 13.9 months [95% CI for HR (6.88-20.91)] and overall survival figure of 16.6 months [95% CI for HR (7.23-26.03)] Univariate analysis revealed that PFS was significantly affected by hemoglobin level [p=0.013 (95% CI for HR (0.71-0.96))], eosinophil count [p=0.031 (95% CI for HR (0.20-0.92))], ratio of neutrophil lymphocytes (NLR) [p=0.007 (95% CI for HR (1.47-11.74))] and calcium level [p=0.006 (95% CI for HR (0.15-0.73))]. However, only NLR [p=0.031 (95% CI for HR (1.15- 18.1))] and calcium levels [p=0.018 (95% CI for HR (0.20-18.1))] retained significance with multivariate analysis. Median PFS was 23.9 vs 8.6 months in patients with NLR ≤ 2 vs NLR >2 (Log rank; p= 0.040).
Conclusions: This study showed that increased pretreatment NLR is an independent prognostic factor for patients with metastatic RCC using tyrosine kinase inhibitors.