Value of Mismatch Repair Genes Combined with Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio in Predicting Postoperative Recurrence of Colon Cancer

Abstract

Objective To investigate the clinicopathological characteristics of colon cancer patients with different mismatch repair gene (MMR) status and evaluate the value of MMR status combined with preoperative blood neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in predicting postoperative recurrence of colon cancer. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the pathological MMR immunohistochemistry results of 125 colon cancer patients after radical resection. Patients were divided into deficient mismatch repair (dMMR) group (n=55) and proficient mismatch repair (pMMR) group (n=70), and further divided into four groups according to MMR status and NLR level. Results Compared with the pMMR group, the patients in the dMMR group had younger onset age, larger tumor size, lower differentiation and more nerve invasion, and were more likely to occur in the right hemicolon (P < 0.05). According to the ROC curve, the NLR threshold was determined as 3. The proportion of low NLR in dMMR group was significantly higher than that in pMMR group (P < 0.05). The 3-year recurrence-free survival rate of the dMMR with low NLR group was 85.0%, significantly higher than those of the other three groups (P < 0.05); Survival analysis showed a significant advantage of the dMMR with low NLR group comparing with the pMMR with high NLR group. Conclusion dMMR colon cancer has unique clinicopathological characteristics. MMR status combined with NLR value can be used to evaluate the postoperative recurrence risk of colon cancer patients.

Keywords

• colon cancer
• deficient mismatch repair
• neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio
• recurrence