The prognostic and predictive value of the combination of the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who receive transarterial chemoembolization therapy

Chaobin He,^1,* Yu Zhang,^2,* Zhiyuan Cai,¹ Xiaojun Lin<sup>1

1</sup>Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou 510060, P. R. China; ²State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, Guangdong, P. R. China

^*These authors contributed equally to this work

Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate the prognostic value of the combination of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) (neutrophil/platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio [NLR–PLR]) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who receive transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) therapy.
Patients and methods: Data from 216 patients who were diagnosed with HCC after TACE therapy were retrospectively collected. R software was used to analyze the time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and to compare the area under the ROC curves (AUROCs).
Results: The long-term survival rates were significantly higher for patients with lower values than those with higher values of NLR, PLR, and NLR–PLR. The mean overall survival decreased gradually with increases in the NLR–PLR score (P<0.0001). The AUROC values of the NLR–PLR score were consistently higher than those of NLR and PLR.
Conclusion: This study showed that the NLR–PLR score might be a useful predictor for patients with HCC who receive TACE therapy.

Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, transarterial chemoembolization, neutrophil/platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio