Blood-Based Inflammatory and Metabolic Biomarkers for Assessing Symptom Burden and Quality of Life in Older Adults with Cancer: A Narrative Review.

IF 2.6 3区医学 Q1 Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics

Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management Pub Date : 2026-06-18 eCollection Date: 2026-01-01 DOI:10.2147/TCRM.S611486

Lu Lu, Yu Zhang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: To evaluate the clinical utility of blood-based inflammatory and metabolic biomarkers in assessing symptom burden and quality of life among older adults with cancer.

Methods: This review synthesizes current evidence regarding the clinical utility and underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of blood-based biomarkers, focusing particularly on the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), and modified Glasgow prognostic score (mGPS).

Results: Elevated inflammatory markers, such as NLR and SII, independently correlate with increased frailty and functional decline. Concurrently, nutritional-metabolic markers, including hypoalbuminemia and a high mGPS, are strongly associated with anorexia and cancer cachexia. These composite indicators effectively capture the synergistic effects of "inflammaging", neuroinflammation, and tumor-driven metabolic reprogramming.

Conclusion: Objective, cost-effective, and dynamically measurable inflammatory and metabolic biomarkers represent promising adjunctive tools for early symptom screening. The integration of these markers into comprehensive geriatric assessments may enhance risk stratification and symptom management. However, current evidence is constrained by study heterogeneity, retrospective designs, a lack of standardized cutoffs, and insufficient prospective validation in older cancer populations. Therefore, these biomarkers should be regarded as complementary to traditional assessments rather than definitive standalone tools.

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基于血液的炎症和代谢生物标志物评估老年癌症患者的症状负担和生活质量：叙述性综述

背景：评估基于血液的炎症和代谢生物标志物在评估老年癌症患者症状负担和生活质量中的临床应用。方法：本综述综合了目前关于血液生物标志物的临床应用和潜在病理生理机制的证据，特别关注中性粒细胞与淋巴细胞比率（NLR）、全身免疫炎症指数（SII）和改良格拉斯哥预后评分（mGPS）。结果：升高的炎症标志物，如NLR和SII，与虚弱和功能下降的增加独立相关。同时，营养代谢标志物，包括低白蛋白血症和高mGPS，与厌食症和癌症恶病质密切相关。这些复合指标有效地捕获了“炎症”、神经炎症和肿瘤驱动的代谢重编程的协同效应。结论：客观、经济、可动态测量的炎症和代谢生物标志物是早期症状筛查的有希望的辅助工具。将这些指标整合到综合的老年评估中可以加强风险分层和症状管理。然而，目前的证据受到研究异质性、回顾性设计、缺乏标准化截止点和老年癌症人群前瞻性验证的限制。因此，这些生物标志物应被视为传统评估的补充，而不是确定的独立工具。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management HEALTH CARE SCIENCES & SERVICES-

CiteScore

5.30

自引率

3.60%

发文量

139

审稿时长

16 weeks

期刊介绍： Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management is an international, peer-reviewed journal of clinical therapeutics and risk management, focusing on concise rapid reporting of clinical studies in all therapeutic areas, outcomes, safety, and programs for the effective, safe, and sustained use of medicines, therapeutic and surgical interventions in all clinical areas. The journal welcomes submissions covering original research, clinical and epidemiological studies, reviews, guidelines, expert opinion and commentary. The journal will consider case reports but only if they make a valuable and original contribution to the literature. As of 18th March 2019, Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management will no longer consider meta-analyses for publication. The journal does not accept study protocols, animal-based or cell line-based studies.