Can Neutrophil/Lymphocyte and Platelet/Lymphocyte Rates Predict Bone Metastasis in Prostate Cancer Patients?

Objective: Bone metastasis is common in advanced prostate cancer (PCa). Recently, there has been a growing interest in the potential role of inflammatory markers, such as neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and neutrophil-to-monocyte ratio (NMR), in predicting advanced disease in patients with solid tumors. In the current study, we aimed to assess the relationship of bone metastasis detected on bone scintigraphy (BS) with NLR, PLR, and NMR in patients with Pca. Materials and Methods: The study group included 85 PCa patients. Patient characteristics, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) values, Gleason score, histopathological features, presence of metastatic focus on BS and complete blood count values were retrospectively evaluated. The relationship of the presence of bone metastasis on BS with clinicopathological features such as PSA, Gleason score, histopathological findings and NLR, PLR and NMR values were investigated. Results: Median NLR, PLR and NMR were 2.90, 125.69 and 8.38, respectively. Thirty-six patients had metastatic disease on BS. Our findings showed a statistically significant relationship between high NLR value and the presence of bone metastasis (p=0.018) and high Gleason score (p=0.034). However, no significant statistical relationship was found between clinicopathological features and PLR and NMR values (p>0.05). Conclusion: Despite the limited number of patients, a significant relationship between high NLR and metastatic bone disease was found. While high NLR has been generally considered an independent risk factor for poor PCa prognosis, we assume that larger scale studies are warranted to assess its value as a prognostic indicator in PCa patients.