title: Significance of preoperative evaluations of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, the granulocyte/lymphocyte ratio and their correlation with regard to outcome in gastric cancer patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In order to clarify the anti-cancer effects of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha), we examined the relationship between the preoperative evaluations of TNFalpha and the granulocyte/lymphocyte ratio (G/L ratio) in relation to outcome in gastric cancer patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Peripheral blood samples were taken within 1 week before curative gastrectomy for measurement of TNFalpha and the G/L ratio. Five-year survival was determined in 71 operative gastric cancer cases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 5-year survival of the high TNFalpha group (> or =8,000 pg/ml ) was 64.1%, 29.0% for the low TNFalpha group (<8,000 pg/ml) and 13.3 and 73.1% for those of the high (> or =4.0) and low (<4.0) G/L ratio groups, respectively. The comparisons of these 5-year survival rates showed statistically significant differences. Moreover, there was a negative linear correlation between TNFalpha and the G/L ratio regarding outcome.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Preoperative evaluations with TNFalpha and the G/L ratio may be important prognostic indicators, and their correlation may be a good indicator of the degree of effectiveness in activating anti-cancer immunity in gastric cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Fourth Department of Surgery, Tokyo Medical University Ibaraki Medical Center, Inashiki, Ibaraki, Japan. h-ubu@tokyo-med.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hideyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ubukata
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Konishi
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nagata
authors.forename: Nobuhiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kasuga
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Yoshihisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nakada
authors.forename: Takafumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tabuchi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood; D015331:Cohort Studies; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005743:Gastrectomy / Q000379:methods / Q000401:mortality; D006098:Granulocytes / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000379:methods; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha