Prognostic Evaluation of Metastasis-Related Lymphocyte/Monocyte Ratio in Stage Ⅰ-Ⅲ Breast Cancer Receiving Chemotherapy

PURPOSE: This study aims to clarify the prognostic significance of metastasis-related indicators in peripheral blood in stage I-III breast cancer (BC). METHODS: The clinicopathological data of 938 breast cancer patients and 509 benign breast disease patients were retrospectively analyzed, and fasting blood samples were collected before treatment. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were used to evaluate factors related to metastasis risk and prognosis. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to generate survival curves, and the log-rank test was used to measure differences in survival between groups. RESULTS: Use the cut-off value (3.433) of LMR, the logistic regression analysis revealed that high carbohydrate antigen 153 (CA153), carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), killer T cell level, and low lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR) level were significantly associated with BC distant metastasis. In contrast, LMR>=3.433 (HR: 0.409, 95%CI: 0.193–0.867, P = 0.020), Th/Tc ratio >=1.946 (HR: 0.378, 95% CI: 0.158–0.904, P =0.029) is regarded as a protective factor in the multivariate cox analyses. LMR is an independent prognostic factor for DFS in HER2-negative BC patients. CONCLUSION: Peripheral blood parameters play an important role in predicting distant metastasis and prognosis of BC patients. As a potential marker, LMR can predict the metastasis and prognosis of patients with stage I-III BC.