Increased neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio independently predicts poor survival in non-metastatic triple-negative breast cancer patients.

Inflammation plays an important role in tumor initiation, progression, and metastasis. The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is widely used to evaluate global inflammation in various tumor types. However, the prognostic role of NLR in non-metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients was poorly known. The aim of this study was to explore the association between pre-treatment NLR and survival in TNBC patients. Data were collected for patients with stages I-III TNBC from 2006 to 2013 at Linyi Central Hospital to analyze pre-treatment NLR and survival. Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method, and Cox analysis was performed to determine clinicopathological parameters for their prognostic relevance. A total of 406 patients were eligible. Patients with NLR lower than 2.85 exhibited significantly higher OS (P < 0.001) and DFS (P < 0.001) than patients with higher NLR. Higher pre-treatment NLR was independently correlated with poor OS and DFS, with hazard ratios of 2.69 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.94-3.72, P = 0.001) and 2.13 (95% CI: 1.68-2.65, P = 0.008), respectively, in the Cox proportional multivariate hazard model. In conclusion, our results indicate that pre-treatment NLR may be correlated with OS and DFS in early-stage TNBC patients, and that it may have considerable clinical applications.