Lymphocyte-C-reactive protein ratio as a novel prognostic index in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: A multicentre cohort study
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Updated: Dec 17, 2025

Author Spotlight: Investigating Immune Cell Dynamics in the Tumor Microenvironment — Challenges and Innovations in Cancer Prognosis
Published on: April 12, 2024
Liang-He Lu1, Chong Zhong2, Wei Wei1
1Department of Hepatobiliary Oncology of Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, China.
Background & Aims:
The lymphocyte-C-reactive protein ratio (LCR) is a novel inflammatory-based score, based solely on the lymphocyte and C-reactive protein. We aimed to clarify the prognostic value of the LCR score in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) patients after resection.
Methods:
We compared the prognostic accuracy of the LCR score with other inflammatory-based scores in this large, multicentre cohort study. The independent variables associated with overall survival (OS) were explored in both the primary (n = 228) and validation cohorts (n = 135). Harrell's concordance index (C-index) was used to compare the predictive ability of all the assessed inflammatory-based scores.
Results:
The LCR score was differentiated two groups of ICC patients with distinct prognoses (1-, 3-, and 5-year OS rates: 94.4%, 66.3%, and 59.3%; and 66.6%, 45.6%, and 32.7%, respectively) (P < .001). Multivariate analysis showed that the LCR score, as well as the TNM stage and preoperative CA19-9 level, were independently associated with OS. The predictive accuracy of the LCR score (c score: 0.634) was superior to that of the other inflammatory-based scores (c scores: 0.508-0.615). These findings were supported by the external validation cohort.
Conclusion:
The LCR score is stable and consistently the best prognostic score and may offer as a simple, objective and discriminatory method in facilitating the risk stratification of ICC patients.

