• Yuming Long, Yingtian Zhang, Liwei Ni, Xuya Yuan, Yuanliang Liu, Jialong Tao, and Yusong Zhang.
• Department of Oncology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, 1055, Sanxiang Road, Suzhou, Jiangsu, PR China.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2021 Jul 23; 100 (29): e26202e26202.

IntroductionPrevious research indicates that the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) may be an indicator of poor prognosis in many tumor types. However, the PLR is rarely described in patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for solid tumors. Thus, we performed a meta-analysis to investigate the prognostic value of this ratio for patients with solid tumors treated by NAC.MethodsA comprehensive search of the literature was conducted using the PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases, followed by a manual search of references from the retrieved articles. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence interval (CIs) were used to evaluate the association between PLR and 3 outcomes, namely, overall survival, disease-free survival, and pathological complete response rate after NAC.ResultsEighteen studies published no earlier than 2014 were included in our study. A lower PLR was associated with better overall survival (HR = 1.46, 95% CI, 1.11-1.92) and favorable disease-free survival (HR = 1.81, 95% CI, 1.27-2.59). A PLR that was higher than a certain cutoff was associated with a lower pathological complete response rate in patients with cancer who received NAC (Odds ratio = 1.93, 95% CI, 1.40-2.87).ConclusionElevated PLR is associated with poor prognosis in various solid tumors. PLR may be a useful biomarker in delineating those patients with poorer prognoses who may benefit from neoadjuvant therapies.Copyright © 2021 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

28 keywords...

hide…