Prognostic significance of the lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer

AIM:To evaluate the prognostic significance of the lymphocyte to monocyte ratio(LMR) in patients with unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer who received palliative chemotherapy.METHODS:A total of 104 patients with unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer who underwent palliative chemotherapy were enrolled. The LMR was calculated from blood samples by dividing the absolute lymphocyte count by the absolute monocyte count. Pretreatment LMR values were measured within one week before the initiation of chemotherapy,while posttreatment LMR values were measured eight weeks after the initiation of chemotherapy.RESULTS:The median pre-treatment LMR was 4.16(range:0.58-14.06). We set 3.38 as the cut-off level based on the receiver operating characteristic curve. Based on the cut-off level of 3.38,66 patients were classified into the high pre-treatment LMR group and 38 patients were classified into the low pretreatment LMR group. The low pre-treatment LMR group had a significantly worse overall survival rate(P = 0.0011). Moreover,patients who demonstrated low pre-treatment LMR and normalization after treatmentexhibited a better overall survival rate than the patients with low pre-treatment and post-treatment LMR values.CONCLUSION:The lymphocyte to monocyte ratio is a useful prognostic marker in patients with unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer who receive palliative chemotherapy.

Doublecortin and CaM kinase-like-1 as an independent prognostic factor in patients with resected pancreatic carcinoma

AIM To elucidate the effect of expression of doublecortin and Ca M kinase-like-1(DCLK1) in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma(PDAC). METHODS Tumor specimens were obtained from 136 patients with pancreatic cancer who had undergone resection without preoperative therapy between January 2000 and December 2013 at the Department of Surgical Oncology, Osaka City University. The resected specimens were analyzed for associations with clinicopathological data, including DCLK1 expression, epithelial mesenchymal transition(EMT) marker expression, and cancer stem cell(CSC) marker expression. Univariate and multivariate survival analyses were performed and we assessed the association between DCLK1 expression and clinicopathological factors, including the EMT marker and CSC marker.RESULTS In total, 48.5%(66/136) of the pancreatic cancer samples were positive for DCLK1. Patients with DCLK1-positive tumors had significantly shorter survival times than those with DCLK1-negative tumors(median, 18.7 mo vs 49.5 mo, respectively; P < 0.0001). Positive DCLK1 expression correlated with histological grade(P = 0.0290), preoperative CA19-9 level(P = 0.0060), epithelial cell adhesion molecule(Ep CAM) expression(P = 0.0235), and the triple-positive expression of CD44/CD24/Ep CAM(P = 0.0139). On univariate survival analysis, five factors were significantly associated with worse overall survival: histological grade of G2 to G4(P = 0.0091), high preoperative serum SPan-1 level(P = 0.0034), R1/2(P < 0.0001), positive expression of DCLK1(P < 0.0001) or CD44(P = 0.0245). On multivariate survival analysis, R1/2 [odds ratio(OR) = 2.019, 95% confidence interval(CI): 1.380-2.933; P = 0.0004] and positive DCLK1 expression(OR = 1.848, 95%CI: 1.2854-2.661; P = 0.0009) were independent prognostic factors. CONCLUSION DCLK1 expression was found to be an independent prognostic factor and it may play a crucial prognostic role by promoting acquisition of stemness.