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Updated: Jul 16, 2025
Predictive Immune Modeling of Solid Tumors
Published on: February 25, 2020
Low neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and pan-immune-inflammation-value predict nodal pathologic complete response in
Maria Luisa Gasparri1,2, Sara Albasini3, Marta Truffi3
1Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Ospedale Regionale di Lugano EOC, Lugano, Switzerland.
Background:
Systemic inflammatory markers draw great interest as potential blood-based prognostic factors in several oncological settings.
Objectives:
The aim of this study is to evaluate whether neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and pan-immune-inflammation value (PIV) predict nodal pathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in node-positive (cN+) breast cancer (BC) patients.
Design:
Clinically, cN+ BC patients undergoing NAC followed by breast and axillary surgery were enrolled in a multicentric study from 11 Breast Units.
Methods:
Pretreatment blood counts were collected for the analysis and used to calculate NLR and PIV. Logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate independent predictors of nodal pCR.
Results:
A total of 1274 cN+ BC patients were included. Nodal pCR was achieved in 586 (46%) patients. At multivariate analysis, low NLR [odds ratio (OR) = 0.71; 95% CI, 0.51-0.98; p = 0.04] and low PIV (OR = 0.63; 95% CI, 0.44-0.90; p = 0.01) were independently predictive of increased likelihood of nodal pCR. A sub-analysis on cN1 patients (n = 1075) confirmed the statistical significance of these variables. PIV was significantly associated with axillary pCR in estrogen receptor (ER)-/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)+ (OR = 0.31; 95% CI, 0.12-0.83; p = 0.02) and ER-/HER2- (OR = 0.41; 95% CI, 0.17-0.97; p = 0.04) BC patients.
Conclusion:
This study found that low NLR and PIV levels predict axillary pCR in patients with BC undergoing NAC.
Registration:
Eudract number NCT05798806.
