Increased lymphocyte to monocyte ratio is associated with better prognosis in patients with newly diagnosed metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma receiving chemotherapy

Inflammation has been demonstrated to be widely involved in the carcinogenesis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). However, the prognostic significance of lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR) in metastatic NPC is not fully addressed. The purpose of the study is to investigate the prognostic impact of pre-treatment absolute lymphocyte count (ALC), absolute monocyte count (AMC), and LMR on patients with newly diagnosed metastatic NPC undergoing chemotherapy. Between January 2006 and December 2010, patients with newly diagnosed metastatic NPC undergoing chemotherapy were retrospectively collected. The prognostic significance of baseline clinical features and inflammatory markers was investigated. A total of 256 patients were eligible for the study. The best cut-off value of ALC, AMC, and LMR was 2.25 × 10⁹/L, 0.35 × 10⁹/L, and 5.07, respectively. Patients in the high LMR group had a significantly longer overall survival (OS) (25.0 months [24.50–25.49]) than patients in the low LMR group (16.0 months [15.51–16.49]; p < 0.001). In addition, ALC ≥ 2.25 × 10⁹/L (HR, 0.59; 95 % CI, 0.43–0.81; p = 0.001) and LMR ≥5.07 (HR, 0.42; 95 % CI, 0.30–0.59; p < 0.001) remained as independent prognostic factors for superior OS, while AMC did not retained its prognostic significance in COX multivariate analysis. Pre-treatment ALC and LMR were demonstrated to be independent prognostic factors in patient with newly diagnosed metastatic NPC receiving chemotherapy. Future prospective studies are needed to validate the findings.