Pretreatment levels of peripheral neutrophils and lymphocytes as independent prognostic factors in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Background The purpose of this study was to evaluate the counts and percentages of differential leukocytes as prognostic indicators in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods This study consisted of 1410 cases identified from an established prospective cohort of 1533 patients with NPC between October 2005 and October 2007 in the Sun YatSen University Cancer Center. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards analyses were applied. Results A high percentage of lymphocyte was significantly associated with a favorable prognosis of NPC (highest vs lowest quartile, hazard ratio [HR], 95% confidence interval [CI] for overall and progression-free survival, HR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.481.06; HR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.430.86, respectively), whereas a high neutrophil percentage (HR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.062.46; HR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.102.18, respectively), and a neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR; HR, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.042.39; HR, 1.68; 95% CI, 1.192.38, respectively), were significantly related to a poor prognosis of NPC. Conclusion Pretreatment NLR and percentages of lymphocyte and neutrophil are independent prognostic factors and may serve as clinically convenient and useful biomarkers for survival of patients with NPC. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck, 2012