Objective
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive breast cancer subtype. Prognostic factors for TNBC are still inconclusive due to its heterogeneity. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been reported as a valuable and cost effective prognostic tool for breast cancer patients. In this study, we aim to identify the prognostic factors for TNBC with a focus on NLR.
Materials and methods
We retrospectively analyzed stage I-III TNBC patients receiving upfront operation at National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) between January 2015 and December 2021. Age, tumor size, lymph node metastasis, cancer stage, histologic grade, lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion, Ki67 levels, and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) were analyzed as prognostic factors. We used 3.4 as the cutoff point for NLR.
Results
We identified 248 stage I-III patients, the overall 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) was 90.2 %. The median follow-up duration was 52.3 months. Twenty-one patients (8.5 %) experienced recurrence, with 8 local-regional and 13 distant recurrences. Compared with patients without recurrence, patients with recurrence had more advanced cancer stage, bigger tumor size, higher percentage of lymph node metastasis, and higher NLR. Multivariate analysis showed that recurrence of TNBC is 3.6 times higher in patients with lymph node metastasis than those without, and it is also 8.9 times higher in patients with baseline NLR >3.4 than ≤3.4.
Conclusion
Lymph node metastasis and elevated NLR are significant predictors of poor DFS in TNBC patients undergoing upfront surgery. Patients with NLR higher than 3.4 have a worse prognosis.
扫码关注我们
求助内容:
应助结果提醒方式:
