Tumor-Associated Neutrophils in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Predicted by Clinicopathologic...

The process of analyzing tumor-associated neutrophils (TANs) types is complex. This study explored the relationships among clinicopathological characteristics, peripheral blood markers, and TANs.

Clinical information was retrospective gathered for 115 patients in our hospital from May 2019 to May 2021, and multiplex immunofluorescence staining was utilized to access the expression of TANs and analyze the potential relationship between TANs and clinicopathological features or peripheral blood markers.

Among the 115 patients, the proportion of female patients within the neutrophils (N1)-low group was notably greater compared to the N1-high group (87.5% vs. 12.5%, p = 0.022). In nonsmoking patients, the proportions in the N1-low and the N2-high groups were 73.9% and 60.9%, respectively, which were greater than those in the N1-high and the N2-low groups (p = 0.028, p = 0.048). Platelets (PLTs) were negatively correlated with N2 neutrophils (p = 0.027). The CRP levels in the N1-low group and N1-high group were 26.2 and 53.6, respectively (p = 0.040). The N1⁺-high group had higher PLT and AISI compared to the N1⁺-low group (241.4 vs. 286.7, p = 0.014; 525.6 vs. 1230.5, p = 0.040). N1 neutrophils were positively correlated with LDL (p = 0.048). The count of N2⁺ neutrophils and the N⁺/N ratio exhibited a negative correlated with ApoA1 (p = 0.049, p = 0.035). The N⁺/N-high group had higher CYFRA21-1 values (p = 0.021).

Our findings indicate that we can utilize simple and readily available clinical information to forecast the expression of TANs within the tumor immune microenvironment.