Simple and easily accessible prognostic markers in ewing sarcoma; neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, neutrophil-platelet score and systemic-inflammation index

Abstract

Background: Inflammation markers are the new point of view in cancer due to increasing data on the interaction of immune system with tumor cells and their prognostic and predictive importance were found in many different types of solid tumors. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), neutrophil-platelet score (NPS), and systemic inflammation index (SII) in Ewing sarcoma patients in which risk groups are still not clearly defined.

Methods and results: A total of 64 patients were evaluated retrospectively. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed to find cut-off values for NLR and SII. Survival analysis was calculated by using Kaplan-Meier method. Cox regression analysis was performed to determine prognostic factors such as age, stage, and neoadjuvant chemotherapy were statistically significant prognostic factors for OS in multivariate analysis. While patients with low NLR and SII had longer OS (P = 0.003 and P = 0.018), patients with high NPS score had shorter OS (67.7 vs 21.7 months, P = 0.001).

Conclusion: Patients with lower NLR, NPS, and SII score have a better prognosis compared with those with higher NLR, NPS, and SII score and these simple parameters may be monitoring tools of the tumor microenvironment.

Keywords: Ewing sarcoma; inflammation; lymphocyte; neutrophil; platelet; survival.