ecancermedicalscience

Review

The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio: a narrative review

12 Dec 2016
Sara Socorro Faria, Paulo César Fernandes Jr, Marcelo José Barbosa Silva, Vladmir C Lima, Wagner Fontes, Ruffo Freitas-Junior, Agda Karina Eterovic, Patrice Forget

Cellular-mediated inflammatory response, lymphocytes, neutrophils, and monocytes are increasingly being recognised as having an important role in tumorigenesis and carcinogenesis. In this context, studies have suggested that the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) can be used as an independent prognostic factor in a variety of cancers. Particularly in breast cancer, several studies have shown that a high NLR is associated with shorter survival. Because the NLR can be easily determined from the full blood count, it could potentially provide a simple and inexpensive test cancer prognosis. This review addresses the possibilities and limitations of using the NLR as a clinical tool for risk stratification helpful for individual treatment of breast cancer patients. The potential underlying phenomena and some perspectives are discussed.

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