title: The clinical use of the platelet/lymphocyte ratio and lymphocyte/monocyte ratio as prognostic predictors in colorectal cancer: a meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Conflicting evidence exists regarding the effects of platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and lymphocyte/monocyte ratio(LMR) on the prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. This study aimed to evaluate the roles of the PLR and LMR in predicting the prognosis of CRC patients via meta-analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eligible studies were retrieved from the PubMed, Embase,andChina National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases, supplemented by a manual search of references from retrieved articles. Pooled hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated using the generic inverse variance and random-effect model to evaluate the association of PLR and LMR with prognostic variables in CRC, including overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS) and disease-free survival (DFS).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty-three studies containing 15,404 patients met criteria for inclusion. Pooled analysis suggested that elevated PLR was associated with poorer OS (pooled HR = 1.57, 95% CI: 1.41 - 1.75, p< 0.00001, I2=26%) and DFS (pooled HR = 1.58, 95% CI: 1.31 - 1.92, p< 0.00001, I2=66%). Conversely, high LMR correlated with more favorable OS (pooled HR = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.50 - 0.68, p< 0.00001, I2=44%), CSS (pooled HR = 0.54, 95% CI: 0.40 - 0.72, p< 0.00001, I2=11%) and DFS (pooled HR = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.71- 0.94,p=0.005, I2=29%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Elevated PLR was associated with poor prognosis, while high LMR correlated with more favorable outcomes in CRC patients. Pretreatment PLR and LMR could serve as prognostic predictors in CRC patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710061, P.R. China.|First Department of Medical Oncology, Shaanxi Provincial Tumor Hospital, Xi'an, 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ya-Huan
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710061, P.R. China.|Third Department of Medical Oncology, Shaanxi Provincial Tumor Hospital, Xi'an, 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Hai-Feng
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: First Department of Medical Oncology, Shaanxi Provincial Tumor Hospital, Xi'an, 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yan-Bing
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710061, P.R. China.|First Department of Medical Oncology, Shaanxi Provincial Tumor Hospital, Xi'an, 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zi-Jun
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, USA.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Yan'an University Affiliated Hospital, Yan'an, 716000, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jian-Rong
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ke-Jun
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Nan
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shu-Hong
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D001772:Blood Cell Count; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000473:pathology*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000473:pathology*; D009000:Monocytes / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis
keywords: colorectal cancer; inflammatory markers; lymphocyte/monocyte ratio; platelet/lymphocyte ratio; prognostic predictor