Association of urinary neopterin, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte, lymphocyte-to-monocyte and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratios with long-term survival of patients with breast cancer

Abstract

The immune response crucially determines the survival of patients with malignant tumors including breast carcinoma. The aim of the present study was to evaluate retrospectively an association of peripheral blood cell count (PBC)-derived ratios and urinary neopterin concentration with prognosis in breast cancer patients. Urinary neopterin, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) were retrospectively analyzed in a cohort of 474 breast cancer patients. NLR and PLR correlated positively with each other and negatively with LMR, but no correlation between neopterin concentrations and PBC-derived ratios was observed. Increased urinary neopterin concentration was a significant predictor of poor survival in patients with active disease, but PLR, NLR or LMR were not significantly associated with survival in multivariate analysis. In conclusion, increased urinary neopterin was a significant predictor of poor survival in patients with breast cancer and active disease.

Keywords

• breast cancer
• lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio
• neopterin
• neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio
• platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio