Ratio of peripheral blood absolute lymphocyte count to absolute monocyte count at diagnosis is associated with progression-free survival in follicular lymphoma.
The prognosis of follicular lymphoma (FL) is significantly associated with host immunity and tumor microenvironment. Lymphopenia has been identified as a negative prognostic factor for FL. The association between monocytosis and progression-free survival (PFS) in FL remains controversial. It is unknown whether the ratio of peripheral blood absolute lymphocyte count to absolute monocyte count (ALC/AMC) at diagnosis is associated with FL prognosis. We studied 99 consecutive patients with FL who were treated with rituximab-containing chemotherapy at Kitano Hospital or Kyoto University Hospital between 2000 and 2012. We analyzed individual variables associated with the ALC/AMC ratio before treatment, as well as known prognostic factors of FL, and found that an ALC/AMC ratio of 4.7 was the best cut-off value for PFS. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that a decreased ALC/AMC ratio was associated with inferior PFS (P = 0.022). Multivariate analysis showed that a decreased ALC/AMC ratio was a significant poor prognostic factor independent of other variables (hazard ratio, 2.714; 95 % confidence interval, 1.060-6.948; P = 0.037). The ALC/AMC ratio before treatment may be a significant prognostic factor predicting PFS of FL.
Department of Hematology, Tazuke Kofukai Medical Research Institute, Kitano Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
Shogo
S
Kumagai
Masaharu
M
Tashima
Jun
J
Fujikawa
Makoto
M
Iwasaki
Yoshihiro
Y
Iwamoto
Yuki
Y
Sueki
Akiko
A
Fukunaga
Soshi
S
Yanagita
Momoko
M
Nishikori
Akifumi
A
Takaori-Kondo
Nobuyoshi
N
Arima
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count / Q000592:standards; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000473:pathology; D008224:Lymphoma, Follicular / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009000:Monocytes / Q000473:pathology; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012372:ROC Curve; D012016:Reference Values; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome