Combination of lymphocyte count and albumin concentration as a new prognostic biomarker for rectal cancer

Although numerous studies have highlighted the prognostic values of various inflammation-related markers, clinical significance remains to be elucidated. The prognostic values of inflammation-related biomarkers for rectal cancer were investigated in this study. A total of 448 patients with stage II/III rectal cancer undergoing curative resection were enrolled from the discovery cohort (n=240) and validation cohort (n=208). We comprehensively compared the prognostic values of 11 inflammation-related markers-derived from neutrophil, lymphocyte, platelet, monocyte, albumin, and C-reactive protein for overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS). Among 11 inflammation-related markers, only lymphocytexalbumin (LA) was significantly associated with both OS and RFS in the discovery cohort (P=0.007 and 0.015, respectively). Multivariate analysis indicated that low LA was significantly associated with poor OS (hazard ratio [HR] 2.19, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.09-4.58, P=0.025), and poor RFS (HR 1.61, 95% CI 1.01-2.80, P=0.048). Furthermore, using the discovery cohort, we confirmed that low LA was significantly associated with poor OS (HR 2.89, 95% CI 1.42-6.00, P=0.002), and poor RFS (HR 1.79, 95% CI 1.04-2.95, P=0.034). LA can be a novel prognostic biomarker for stage II/III rectal cancer.

Automated summary

The study found that lymphocytexalbumin (LA) can serve as a novel prognostic biomarker for stage II/III rectal cancer, being significantly associated with overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) of patients.