Inflammatory burden as a prognostic biomarker for cancer

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Immunology
• Biomarker Discovery

Background:

• Systemic inflammation is a key host-tumor interaction in cancer.
• Accurate assessment of inflammatory burden is crucial for cancer prognosis.
• Existing biomarkers may not fully capture the complexity of cancer-related inflammation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel Inflammatory Burden Index (IBI).
• To assess the inflammatory burden across different cancer types.
• To evaluate the IBI's ability to predict patient prognosis.

Main Methods:

• The IBI was formulated using C-reactive protein and neutrophil/lymphocyte counts.
• Data from 6359 cancer patients across multiple centers (2012-2019) were analyzed.
• Survival analysis utilized Kaplan-Meier, Cox regression, and logistic regression.

Main Results:

• The IBI stratified cancers into high, moderate, and low inflammatory burden groups with distinct prognostic effects.
• The IBI demonstrated superior accuracy in predicting survival compared to other inflammation biomarkers.
• Patients with high IBI scores exhibited significantly lower survival rates.
• Increased IBI levels were independently associated with increased risk of poor prognosis, malnutrition, and cachexia.

Conclusions:

• The Inflammatory Burden Index (IBI) is a novel, feasible, and promising predictive biomarker for cancer patients.
• IBI can effectively assess systemic inflammatory burden in various cancers.
• IBI serves as a valuable prognostic supplement in cancer management.