Pretreatment inflammatory indexes as prognostic predictors for survival in osteosarcoma patients

Pretreatment inflammatory indexes including neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), lymphocyte-monocyte ratio (LMR), platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) are associated with poor outcomes in various malignant tumors, but their prognostic value in patients with osteosarcoma is poorly known. This was a retrospective study of patients with osteosarcoma treated between 01/2010 and 12/2013 at Chongqing University Cancer Hospital. Follow-up was calculated from the date of initial histological diagnosis to December 2018 or death or loss of follow-up. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to determine the NLR, LMR, PLR, and SII cut-off values (low (L) vs. high (H)). The Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis. Univariable and multivariable Cox analyses were performed to determine the independent prognostic factors. Patients with LNLR had better survival than those with HNLR (median, 38.0 vs. 13.0, P<0.001). Patients with LSII had better survival (26.0 vs. 10.0 months, P=0.001) than those with HSII. The areas under the curves for NLR, LMR, PLR, SII, and ALP were 0.761 (P<0.001), 0.683 (P=0.012), 0.697 (P=0.002), 0.653 (P=0.031), and 0.515 (P=0.837), respectively. In the univariable analyses, Enneking's stage, systemic chemotherapy, surgery, NLR, PLR, LMR, and SII were associated with overall survival (OS). The multivariable analysis showed that HNLR (HR=2.507; 95% CI=1.364-4.606; P=0.003) was independent unfavorable prognostic factors. This preliminary study suggests that NLR is associated with poor prognosis in osteosarcoma. NLR could be a potential prognostic marker of osteosarcoma.