The association of the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio with the presence of minimal residual disease and outcome in patients with Stage II colon cancer treated with surgery alone

Optimal cutpoint of preoperative neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio and associated postoperative prognosis in colorectal cancer patients

PURPOSE

As the role of systemic inflammation in cancer progression, the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is easily evaluated and predicts prognosis in solid cancers. However, the optimal cutpoint for NLR in colorectal cancer patients remains unclear.

METHODS

This retrospective cohort study was based on the Chang Gung Research Database. Participants included colorectal cancer patients who received operation and preoperative complete blood counts with differentiation from 2007 to 2017. The cutpoint of NLR was calculated by SAS macro (%FINGCUT).

RESULTS

A total of 16,990 colorectal patients were included, and 4961 (29.1%) were identified as the high NLR group (≥ 3.59). Poor clinical characteristics were significantly predominant in the patients with high NLR. The patients with high NLR were associated with worse 5-year disease-free survival and overall survival (p < 0.0001). Multivariate Cox regression survival analysis still showed poor 5-year disease-free survival (HR = 1.319, p < 0.0001) and overall survival (HR = 1.611, p < 0.0001) in the high NLR group after adjustment. Patients with high NLR and hypoalbuminemia had the worst disease-free survival and overall survival (p < 0.0001). In subgroup analysis, stage II colon cancer patients with low NLR had better survival than those with high NLR (p < 0.0001). The hazard ratios of without chemotherapy in disease-free survival and overall survival were higher in the patients with high NLR.

CONCLUSIONS

High NLR was associated with worse clinical characteristics and an independent predictor of poor survival. After adjuvant chemotherapy for stage II colon cancer, more benefits of improving survival were demonstrated in the patients with high NLR.

Clinical significance of ribosomal protein S15 expression in patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases

BACKGROUND

Liver metastasis is the most frequently observed distant metastasis of colorectal cancer, and the residual liver recurrence rate after hepatic resection is still high. To explore the mechanism of liver metastasis to discover potential new treatments, we assessed the relationship between the expression of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and prognosis in patients with colorectal cancer liver metastasis (CRLM).

METHODS

The gene expression dataset was extracted from The Cancer Genome Atlas and the Gene Expression Omnibus. Significance analysis of DEGs between tumor and normal samples of colorectum, liver, and lung was conducted. A total of 80 CRLM patients were studied to assess the expression of RPS15, characteristics, and outcomes. We examined the relationships of RPS15 expression to cell viability and apoptosis in vitro and vivo.

RESULTS

Significance analysis identified 33 DEGs. In our cohorts, the overall survival rates were significantly lower in the high-RPS15-expression group, and high expression of RPS15 was an independent and unfavorable prognostic factor in recurrence-free survival and overall survival. Knockdown of RPS15 expression reduced the proliferative capacity of colorectal cancer cells and increased BAX-induced apoptotic cell death.

CONCLUSIONS

RPS15 expression is an independent prognostic factor for CRLM patients and might be a novel therapeutic target for CRLM.

New scoring system combining computed tomography body composition analysis and inflammatory-nutritional indicators to predict postoperative complications in stage II-III colon cancer

BACKGROUND AND AIM

Postoperative complications are important clinical outcomes for colon cancer patients. This study aimed to investigate the predictive value of inflammatory-nutritional indicators combined with computed tomography body composition on postoperative complications in patients with stage II-III colon cancer.

METHODS

We retrospectively collected data from patients with stage II-III colon cancer admitted to our hospital from 2017 to 2021, including 198 patients in the training cohort and 50 patients in the validation cohort. Inflammatory-nutritional indicators and body composition were included in the univariate and multivariate analyses. Binary regression was used to develop a nomogram and evaluate its predictive value.

RESULTS

In the multivariate analysis, the monocyte-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), nutritional risk score (NRS), skeletal muscle index (SMI), and visceral fat index (VFI) were independent risk factors for postoperative complications of stage II-III colon cancer. In the training cohort, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the predictive model was 0.825 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.764-0.886). In the validation cohort, it was 0.901 (95% CI 0.816-0.986). The calibration curve showed that the prediction results were in good agreement with the observational results. Decision curve analysis showed that colon cancer patients could benefit from the predictive model.

CONCLUSIONS

A nomogram combining MLR, SII, NRS, SMI, and VFI with good accuracy and reliability in predicting postoperative complications in patients with stage II-III colon cancer was established, which can help guide treatment decisions.

Evaluation of Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio and Platelet-Lymphocyte Ratio on Predicting Responsiveness to Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy in Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer Patients

Objective

Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and Platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) have been proposed as prognostic biomarkers in multiple cancers. However, the implications of NLR and PLR in the responsiveness to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) remain to be clarified in locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) patients. This retrospective study investigated the prognostic value of NLR and PLR in nCRT responsiveness of LARC patients.

Methods

A total number of 86 patients diagnosed with LARC and treated with nCRT and total mesorectal excision were retrospectively followed from 2013 to 2016. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to determine the cutoff values of NLR and PLR, and the patients were divided into NLR elevation and NLR decrease groups, or PLR elevation and PLR decrease groups. The correlation between NLR and PLR changes, and clinicopathological factors were analyzed. The relationship between NLR and PLR changes and the curative responsiveness towards nCRT were further evaluated.

Results

NLR and PLR changes after nCRT were significantly correlated with the distance of tumors to the anus and BMI (body mass index) (P < 0.05). The clinical remission rate of patients with NLR reduction was 72.09% (31/43), which was significantly higher than that in patients with NLR increment (22/43, 51.16%). There was no significant difference in the clinic remission rate between the patients with PLR reduction and those with PLR increment (P > 0.05). However, the pathological responsiveness rate was significantly higher in patients with PLR reduction (21/43, 48.84%) when compared to the ones with PLR increment (9/43, 20.9%) (P = 0.036).

Conclusion

Our data indicate that in LARC patients with nCRT, the reduction of NLR and the reduction of PLR could serves as predictors for the clinic remission rate and pathological responsiveness rate, respectively. The combination of NLR and PLR changes may be employed as a simple and effective prognostic parameter to predict the treatment outcome of nCRT in LARC.

Is Laparoscopic Complete Mesocolic Excision and Central Vascular Ligation Really Necessary for All Patients With Right-Sided Colon Cancer?

Colon cancer treatment is on the way to evolution over several decades. The minimally invasive surgery has improved postoperative short-term outcomes. Adjuvant chemotherapy has prolonged the survival of advanced colon cancer patients. Hohenberger proposed the noble concept of complete mesocolic excision (CME) which consists of 3 components: plane surgery, sufficient longitudinal bowel resection, and central vascular ligation (CVL). Mesocolic plane surgery shares the same surgical principle of total mesorectal excision, which is maintaining the intact mesothelial envelope. However, there remain debates about the extent of bowel resection and the level of CVL for maximizing lymph node dissection. There is no solid clinical evidence for the oncological necessity and benefit of extended radical dissection in right hemicolectomy. CME with CVL based on open surgery has been adopted in laparoscopic surgery. So, it is also necessary to look at how the CME could be transformed and successfully implanted in the laparoscopic era. Recent rapid advances in surgical technology and cancer biology are preparing for fundamental changes in cancer surgery. In this study, we reviewed the history, oncological necessity, and compatibility of CME for the right hemicolectomy in the laparoscopic era and outline the new perspectives on the evolution of cancer surgery.

Improvement in immune dysfunction after FOLFOX chemotherapy for Stage III colon cancer is associated with improved minimal residual disease prognostic subtype and outcome

AIM

Minimal residual disease (MRD) is the net result of the biological properties of disseminated tumour cells and the effect of the immune system and treatment to eliminate them. The aim of this work is to report the changes in MRD status and immune function (lymphocyte count) after FOLFOX chemotherapy, and the outcome in Stage III colon cancer patients.

METHOD

This study is a prospective, single-centre observational study. Lymphocyte counts were determined prior to and 1, 2 and 3 months after the completion of chemotherapy. Circulating tumour cells (CTCs) and bone marrow micrometastases were determined using immunocytochemistry with anticarcinoembryonic antigen prior to and 1 month after chemotherapy. MRD was classified as negative (Group I), micrometastasis positive only (Group II) and CTC positive (Group III). Changes in lymphocyte counts and MRD subtype following chemotherapy and relapse-free progression were analysed.

RESULTS

Of the total of 185 patients, 83 (44.9%) relapsed. The risk of relapse significantly increased from Groups I to III (p < 0.001) and with decreasing lymphocyte count (p < 0.01). The lymphocyte count significantly decreased from Groups I to III (p < 0.001). Multivariance Cox regression analysis showed hazard ratios of 3.58 (Group II), 17.43 (Group III) and 0.39 (lymphocyte count) in predicting relapse. Following chemotherapy, improved lymphocyte count was associated with improved MRD subtype (p < 0.0001). Neither baseline lymphocyte count nor MRD subtype predicted response to chemotherapy. Five-year relapse-free survival for combined lymphocyte-MRD subtypes was 95%, 57% and 5% for Groups I to III, respectively (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Following chemotherapy, improvements in immune function were associated with improved MRD subtype and a better relapse-free survival.