Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio is associated with sensitivity to platinum-based chemotherapy and prognosis in patients with advanced serous ovarian carcinoma

The role of the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in predicting sensitivity to chemotherapy and prognosis has attracted great interest in several types of cancer. In the present study, the correlation between pre-chemotherapy NLR and sensitivity to platinum-based chemotherapy and prognosis in patients with advanced serous ovarian carcinoma was examined by retrospectively reviewing the medical records of 50 patients with stage III-IV serous ovarian carcinoma from 2005 to 2012. Patients were divided into high-NLR (32 patients) and low-NLR (18 patients) groups according to a cutoff value of 2.47. This cutoff was calculated using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve that demonstrated 84% specificity and 60% sensitivity. Patient characteristics, sensitivity to platinum-based chemotherapy and prognosis were subsequently compared. The results revealed no significant difference in patient characteristics between the two groups. In the low-NLR group, 14 of 18 patients (77.8%) were sensitive to platinum-based chemotherapy, whereas 11 of 32 were sensitive in the high-NLR group (34.4%) (P=0.007). Overall and disease-free survival (DFS) were significantly longer in the low-NLR than in the high-NLR group (P=0.013 and P=0.043, respectively). The current results suggested that pre-chemotherapeutical NLR may serve as a biomarker of sensitivity to platinum-based chemotherapy and prognosis in patients with advanced serous ovarian carcinoma.