The use of platelet to lymphocyte ratio in predicting prostate cancer outcome

The authors aimed to determine the predicting value of the platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in prostate cancer patients treated with hormone therapy.

The authors concluded that the PLR might play a significant role in the prognosis of prostate cancer patients treated with hormone therapy.

The PLR is based on the levels of platelets (blood cells that form clots and stop bleeding) to lymphocytes (cells that fight disease) in the body. A high PLR can indicate inflammation in the body. A high PLR before treatment have been identified as a predictor for poor survival in patients with some types of cancer. The relationship between the PLR and hormone therapy (a treatment option that targets the male sex hormones, such as testosterone, needed for cancer growth) still needs to be analyzed. It is not clear whether the PLR can help to improve outcome predictions in prostate cancer patients receiving hormone therapy.

The aim of this study was to determine the benefit of the PLR at predicting outcome in prostate cancer patients who received hormone therapy.

290 patients treated with hormone therapy were included in this study. The average age was 75 years, with an average follow-up time of 37 months. Patients were divided into two groups. 146 patients in group 1 had a low PLR. 144 patients in group 2 had a high PLR.

In total, 43.45% of patients experienced disease progression. 24.14% of patients died, 20.69% of whom died from prostate cancer.

Patients in group 2 had a significantly worse survival than patients in group 1. Group 2 had a worse progression-free survival (PFS – patients who did not experience disease progression after treatment), overall survival (OS – patients who were still alive after treatment) and cancer-specific survival (CSS – patients who did not die from prostate cancer following treatment) than group 1.

Age, tumor incidence, PLR and Gleason score (a measure of how aggressive the cancer is) were independent predictors of PFS. PLR was identified as an independent predictor for PFS, CSS and OS. Including PLR improved the accuracy of predicting PFS from 73% to 74.7%, CSS from 77.8% to 80.1% and OS from 74.6% to 76.8%.

The authors concluded that PLR might play a significant role in the prognosis of prostate cancer patients treated with hormone therapy.