The Prognostic Value of Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte Ratio and Monocyte-to-lymphocyte Ratio in Metastatic Gastric Cancer Treated with Systemic Chemotherapy

Background: The prognostic value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR) in metastatic gastric cancer (mGC) treated with systemic chemotherapy is largely unknown, especially second-line chemotherapy. We retrospectively investigated the prognostic value of baseline NLR and MLR in the progression of mGC with systemic chemotherapy. Methods: Patients with mGC diagnosed by pathology from January 2010 to December 2018 were identified. Baseline NLR and MLR were collected before treatment. The time to progression during or after first-line therapy from diagnosis (PFS1), and during or after second-line chemotherapy (PFS2) were primary endpoint. Overall survival (OS) was calculated from diagnosis to the date of death or final follow-up. Results: 537 patients with first-line chemotherapy were included in the retrospective study. The cutoff values of NLR and MLR were 2.610 and 0.285, respectively. Pretreatment NLR and MLR were significantly independent prognostic factors for PFS1 (hazard ratio [HR]=1.597, 95% CI 1.261-2.022, P<0.001 and HR=1.574, 95% CI 1.239-1.999, P<0.001) and OS (HR=1.448, 95% CI 1.030-2.034, P=0.033 and HR=1.622, 95% CI 1.148-2.291, P=0.006). For 172 patients treated with second-line chemotherapy, the cutoff value of MLR was 0.355 and MLR maintained a significant association with PFS2 (HR=1.589, 95% CI 1.073-2.354, P=0.021) in multivariate analysis. Conclusions: Elevated NLR and MLR were markedly related to the worse PFS1 and OS in mGC performed with first-line chemotherapy. In patients with second-line therapy, MLR was more closely connected to prognosis and was a significantly independent prognostic factor for PFS2.