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. 2020 Mar 8;12(3):626.
doi: 10.3390/cancers12030626.

The Pre-Treatment C-Reactive Protein Represents a Prognostic Factor in Patients with Oral and Oropharyngeal Cancer Treated with Radiotherapy

Olivia Knittelfelder  1 , Daniela Delago  1 , Gabriele Jakse  1 , Katarzyna Lukasiak  1 , Eva-Maria Thurner  1 , Dietmar Thurnher  2 , Martin Pichler  3   4 , Wilfried Renner  5 , Heidi Stranzl-Lawatsch  1 , Tanja Langsenlehner  1
Affiliations

The Pre-Treatment C-Reactive Protein Represents a Prognostic Factor in Patients with Oral and Oropharyngeal Cancer Treated with Radiotherapy

Olivia Knittelfelder et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of the pre- treatment C-reactive protein (CRP) level in a cohort of 503 patients with oral and oropharyngeal cancer treated at a tertiary academic center between 2000 and 2017. Cancer-specific survival (CSS), overall survival (OS) and loco-regional control (LC) were calculated using Kaplan-Meier analysis. To evaluate the prognostic value of the CRP level for the clinical endpoints, univariate and multivariate Cox regression models were applied. The median follow-up period was 61 months. Patients were divided into elevated CRP (≥5 mg/L) and normal CRP groups, according to pre-treatment plasma levels. An increased CRP level was significantly associated with shorter CSS (p < 0.001, log-rank test), as well as with shorter OS (p < 0.001, log-rank test) and loco-regional control (p = 0.001, log-rank test). In addition, multivariate analysis identified CRP as an independent predictor for CSS (hazard ratio (HR) 1.59, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08-2.35; p = 0.020) as well as for OS (HR 1.62, 95%CI 1.17-2.24; p = 0.004) and LC (HR 1.50, 95%CI 1.06-2.14; p = 0.023). In subgroup analysis, Kaplan Meier curves revealed that an elevated pre-treatment CRP level was a consistent prognostic factor for poor CSS (p = 0.003, log-rank test), OS (p = 0.001, log-rank test), and LC (p = 0.028, log-rank test) in patients treated with definitive (chemo-) radiotherapy, whereas a significant association in patients undergoing surgery and postoperative radiotherapy was not detected. The pre-treatment CRP level seems to represent a prognostic factor for CSS, OS, and LC in patients with oral and oropharyngeal cancer, particularly in those treated with definitive (chemo-) radiotherapy. Additional large-scale prospective studies are warranted to confirm and extend our findings.

Keywords: C- reactive protein (CRP); biomarker; inflammation; oral and oropharyngeal cancer; outcome; prognostic factor.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Kaplan-Meier curves for (a) cancer-specific survival, (b), overall survival, and (c) loco-regional control categorized by the pre-treatment CRP level. Abbreviation: CRP, C- reactive protein.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Kaplan-Meier curves for (a) cancer-specific survival, (b), overall survival, and (c) loco-regional control in patients treated with definitive (chemo-) radiotherapy categorized by the pre-treatment CRP level. Abbreviation: CRP, C- reactive protein.
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