Predictive utility of the C-reactive protein-albumin-lymphocyte (CALLY) index in Colorectal cancer: A meta-analysis

The prognostic performance of the C-reactive protein-albumin-lymphocyte (CALLY) index in individuals with colorectal cancer (CRC) remains inconsistent. Therefore, this research intended to ascertain the utility of CALLY for prognostic prediction in individuals with CRC.

PubMed, Cochrane Library (Cochrane), Web of Science (WOS), and Embase were retrieved to collect articles published up to October 20, 2025, ascertaining the prognostic utility of CALLY in CRC. The overall hazard ratio (HR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated to appraise the relations between CALLY and overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS) or progression-free survival (PFS), and recurrence-free survival (RFS). All analyses were implemented utilizing STATA 15.1.

Totally 10 studies involving 7,467 individuals with CRC were included. Analysis indicated that, with low CALLY as a reference, high CALLY was a substantial predictor of good prognoses for OS (HR=0.58, 95% CI: 0.52-0.63, p<0.001), DFS/PFS (HR=0.39, 95% CI: 0.23-0.66, p<0.001), and RFS (HR=0.70, 95% CI: 0.63-0.79, p<0.001). Subgroup analysis demonstrated that high CALLY was robust as a predictor of good prognosis. Regional heterogeneity was observed in its prediction of OS, while consistent results were found across subgroups with different analysis methods and sample sizes.

In the current research, with low CALLY as a reference, high CALLY was substantially linked to better OS, DFS/PFS, and RFS in individuals with CRC. CALLY may act as a bioindicator for the prognosis of individuals with CRC.