Prognostic model for overall survival that includes the combination of platelet count and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio within the first six weeks of sunitinib treatment for metastatic renal cell carcinoma

Systemic inflammatory biomarkers in Schizophrenia are changed by ECT administration and related to the treatment efficacy

Immune inflammation has long been implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Despite as a rapid and effective physical therapy, the role of immune inflammation in electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for schizophrenia remains elusive. The neutrophils to lymphocytes (NLR), platelets to monocytes (PLR) and monocytes to lymphocytes (MLR) are inexpensive and accessible biomarkers of systemic inflammation. In this study, 70 schizophrenia patients and 70 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were recruited. The systemic inflammatory biomarkers were measured before and after ECT. Our results indicated schizophrenia had significantly higher peripheral NLR, PLR and MLR compared to health controls at baseline, while lymphocytes did not differ. After 6 ECT, the psychiatric symptoms were significantly improved, as demonstrated by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). However, there was a decline in cognitive function scores, as indicated by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Notably, the neutrophils and NLR were significantly reduced following ECT. Although lymphocytes remained unchanged following ECT, responders had significantly higher lymphocytes compared to non-responders. Moreover, the linear regression analyses revealed that higher lymphocytes served as a predictor of larger improvement in positive symptom following ECT. Overall, our findings further highlighted the presence of systemic inflammation in schizophrenia patients, and that ECT may exert a therapeutic effect in part by attenuating systemic inflammation. Further research may therefore lead to new treatment strategies for schizophrenia targeting the immune system.

Sixth-Week Immune-Nutritional-Inflammatory Biomarkers: Can They Predict Clinical Outcomes in Patients with Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Treated with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors?

BACKGROUND

We investigated the relationships between inflammatory markers such as the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), Lung Immune Prognostic Index (LIPI), and modified Glasgow prognostic score (mGPS) to determine whether they could predict treatment response to pembrolizumab or nivolumab (immunotherapy) 6 weeks after the start of treatment (post-treatment).

METHODS

We included all patients with lung cancer treated with immunotherapy. We examined the biomarker trends and explored their associations with progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and response rate (RR) at 6 weeks.

RESULTS

Eighty-three patients were enrolled in the study. The presence of liver metastasis, low post-treatment NLR (<5), low post-treatment PLR (<170), intermediate post-treatment LIPI, and immune-related adverse events were significantly associated with the response. The multivariate analysis revealed that high post-treatment NLRs ≥ 5 (p = 0.004) and PLRs ≥ 170 (p ≤ 0.001) were independent prognostic factors of shorter OS. A good LIPI status was associated with better PFS (p = 0.020) and OS (p = 0.065). Post-treatment mGPS (0-2) was significantly associated with improved PFS (p = 0.009) and OS (p = 0.064).

CONCLUSIONS

Post-treatment NLR, PLR, LIPI, and mGPS are associated with worse OS and recurrence. These findings should be independently and prospectively validated in further studies.