title: Usefulness of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio in hormone-receptor-negative breast cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to investigate the relationship between pretreatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR)/platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and the estimation of hormone-receptor-negative (HR-) breast cancer patients' survival in a Chinese cohort.
  
  
  METHODS
  Of 434 consecutive HR- nonmetastatic breast cancer patients treated between 2004 and 2010 in the Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences, 318 eligible cases with complete data were included in the present study. Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed to determine the overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to test the usefulness of NLR and PLR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Univariate analysis indicated that both elevated NLR and PLR (both P<0.001) were associated with poor OS. The utility of NLR remained in the multivariate analysis (P<0.001), but not PLR (P=0.104). The analysis results for DFS were almost the same as OS. Subgroup analysis revealed a significant association between increased NLR and PLR (P<0.001 and P=0.011) and poor survival in triple-negative breast cancer. However, for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive breast cancer, only NLR was significantly associated with OS in the multivariate analysis (P=0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study indicates that both increased NLR and PLR are associated with poor survival in HR-breast cancer patients. Meanwhile, NLR is independently correlated with OS and DFS, but PLR is not.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences; Department of Radiation Oncology, 307 Hospital of PLA, 307 Clinical College, Anhui Medical University, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences.
authors.forename: Zhou
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences.
authors.forename: Qiusheng
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences.
authors.forename: Lijuan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences.
authors.forename: Xiangying
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences; Department of Radiation Oncology, 307 Hospital of PLA, 307 Clinical College, Anhui Medical University, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shikai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wu
keywords: breast cancer; inflammatory markers; survival