The Ratio of C-Reactive Protein/Albumin is a Novel Inflammatory Predictor of Overall Survival in Cisplatin-Based Treated Patients with Metastatic Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Dis Markers. 2017:2017:6570808. doi: 10.1155/2017/6570808. Epub 2017 Jun 6.

Abstract

The C-reactive protein/albumin (CRP/Alb) ratio has been recently identified as a prognostic factor in various cancers, whereas its role remains unclear in metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The current study retrospectively analyzed 148 patients with metastatic NPC who underwent cisplatin-based chemotherapy and further evaluated the prognostic value of the CRP/Alb ratio and its association with clinical characteristics in these patients. The optimal cut-off value was 0.189 for the CRP/Alb ratio. The high CRP/Alb ratio was significantly associated with elevated NLR, platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and EBV-DNA levels and decreased haemoglobin level (all p < 0.05). The results of multivariate analysis showed that the CRP/Alb ratio was an independent prognostic factor of overall survival. Patients with a high CRP/Alb ratio (≥0.189) had a 1.867 times (p = 0.024, 95% CI = 1.085-3.210) greater risk of mortality compared with those with a low CRP/Alb ratio (<0.189). In addition, combining the CRP/Alb ratio with GPS could accurately discriminate the prognosis of our patients. Our results suggested that the CRP/Alb ratio is a feasible and inexpensive tool for predicting survival outcomes and is a valuable coadjutant for the GPS to further identify differences in survivals of patients with metastatic NPC.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / therapeutic use*
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / blood
  • Bone Neoplasms / diagnosis*
  • Bone Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Bone Neoplasms / mortality
  • Bone Neoplasms / secondary
  • C-Reactive Protein / metabolism*
  • Carcinoma / diagnosis*
  • Carcinoma / drug therapy
  • Carcinoma / mortality
  • Carcinoma / pathology
  • Cisplatin / therapeutic use
  • Female
  • Fluorouracil / therapeutic use
  • Humans
  • Liver Neoplasms / diagnosis*
  • Liver Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Liver Neoplasms / mortality
  • Liver Neoplasms / secondary
  • Lung Neoplasms / diagnosis*
  • Lung Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Lung Neoplasms / mortality
  • Lung Neoplasms / secondary
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma
  • Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / diagnosis*
  • Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / mortality
  • Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / pathology
  • Paclitaxel / therapeutic use
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Prognosis
  • ROC Curve
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Serum Albumin / metabolism*
  • Survival Analysis

Substances

  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • Serum Albumin
  • C-Reactive Protein
  • Paclitaxel
  • Cisplatin
  • Fluorouracil