Neutrophils-to-lymphocytes, lymphocytes to-monocytes and platelets-to-lymphocytes ratios - predictive biomarkers for response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer.

Purpose Several biomarkers have been reported to correlate with neoadjuvant chemotherapy response. Our aim was to establish the correlation between neutrophils-to-lymphocytes (NLR), lymphocytes-to-monocytes (LMR), and platelets-to-lymphocytes ratios (PLR) and the Miller Payne grade (MPG) and Residual Cancer Burden Score (RCB), as indicators to response to chemotherapy. Methods Data were retrospectively collected from the First Surgical Clinic database between January 2016 and December 2018. Results 96 patients were included in the study. The multivariate regression analysis showed a statistical correlation between oestrogen (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status, Ki67 over 15%, and tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and MPG and RCB. For the three studied ratios, p value was statistical not significative. ROC curve showed a cut-off value of 2.7 NLR, for which correlation with the pathological complete response to chemotherapy (pCR) was significative (p=0.03). Conclusions Our findings suggest that NLR can be a predictive biomarker for pCR. Further studies, on larger sample size, are necessary to establish the correlation with MPG and RCB.