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. 2020 Jan 10:20:15.
doi: 10.1186/s12935-020-1094-5. eCollection 2020.

Prognostic role of pretreatment blood lymphocyte count in patients with solid tumors: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Jiawen Zhao #  1 , Weijia Huang #  2 , Yongxian Wu #  1 , Yihuan Luo  2 , Bo Wu  1 , Jiwen Cheng  1 , Junqiang Chen  2 , Deyun Liu  1 , Chengyang Li  1
Affiliations

Prognostic role of pretreatment blood lymphocyte count in patients with solid tumors: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Jiawen Zhao et al. Cancer Cell Int. .

Abstract

Background: To evaluate the prognostic value of pretreatment lymphocyte counts with respect to clinical outcomes in patients with solid tumors.

Methods: Systematic literature search of electronic databases (Pubmed, Embase and Web of Science) up to May 1, 2018 was carried out by two independent reviewers. We included Eligible studies assessed the prognostic impact of pretreatment lymphocytes and had reported hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for endpoints including overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Only English publications were included.

Results: A total of 42 studies comprising 13,272 patients were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. Low pretreatment lymphocyte count was associated with poor OS (HR = 1.27, 95% CI 1.16-1.39, P < 0.001, I2 = 58.5%) and PFS (HR = 1.27, 95% CI 1.15-1.40, P < 0.001, I2 = 25.7%). Subgroup analysis disaggregated by cancer type indicated that low pretreatment lymphocytes were most closely associated with poor OS in colorectal cancer followed by breast cancer and renal cancer.

Conclusions: Low pretreatment lymphocyte count may represent an unfavorable prognostic factor for clinical outcomes in patients with solid tumors.

Keywords: Lymphocyte; Pretreatment; Prognosis; Solid tumor.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interestsThe authors declared no potential competing interests with respect to the research, authorship, publication of this article.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Schematic illustration of the meta-analysis
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Forest plots for the association between pretreatment lymphocyte and overall survival
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Forest plots for the association between pretreatment lymphocyte and progression-free survival
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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