Diagnostic and Prognostic Role of Neutrophil/Lymphocyte Ratio, Platelet/Lymphocyte Ratio and Lymphocyte/Monocyte Ratio in Pediatric Sarcomas.

Aim: The correlation between the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) with prognosis has been observed in different types of adult sarcomas. However, there is insufficient evidence in pediatric tumors. Our study aimed to examine if alterations in these characteristics serve as prognostic indicators in juvenile sarcomas.

Methods: A cohort group of 138 patients including Ewing sarcoma (n = 62), osteosarcoma (n = 52), and rhabdomyosarcoma (n = 24), the most common pediatric sarcomas diagnosed and treated in our institute between January 2006 and December 2022, were retrospectively evaluated. Pre-treatment values of NLR, PLR, and LMR were calculated for all patients. These values were then evaluated about overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS), along with other established prognostic variables.

Results: In terms of area under the ROC curve (AUC) values, NLR and LMR in osteosarcoma, NLR and PLR in Ewing sarcoma, and NLR in rhabdomyosarcoma were statistically significant. In patients with osteosarcoma (OS), NLR ≥ 3 and LMR < 5.3 were found to be an independent prognostic factor for overall survival in multivariate analysis (HR, 2, 95% [CI], 1.1-8; P = 0.049 and HR, 2.1, 95% [CI], 1.3-8.3; P = 0.046, respectively). Furthermore, positive surgical margins were found to be an independent prognostic factor in OS patients (HR, 2.7, 95% CI, 1-9.2; P = 0.045). In multivariate analysis, cut-off values of NLR ≥ 2.1 and PLR ≥ 194 were determined as prognostic factors for overall survival in patients with Ewing sarcoma (ES) (HR, 2.2, 95% [CI], 1-6.8; P = 0.048, HR, 3.2, 95% [CI], 1.1-9; P = 0.035, respectively). Metastatic disease was found to be correlated with poorer overall and disease-free survival rates in patients with ES. The hazard ratio for overall survival was 4 (95% confidence interval: 2.1-17.4; P = 0.03), while the hazard ratio for disease-free survival was 2.3 (95% confidence interval: 2-4.9; P = 0.024). In the rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) group, surgical margin positivity and NLR ≥ 4.6 were associated with worse overall survival rates in univariate analysis (HR, 4, 95% CI, 1.6-27.2; P = 0.029 and HR, 2.2, 95% CI, 1.05-6.9; P = 0.046, respectively).

Conclusion: Our study revealed that elevated NLR hurt OS and DFS in patients with osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma. Low LMR and high PLR were also associated with poor prognosis in these diseases, even in the presence of heterogeneity. In the rhabdomyosarcoma group, however, none of the markers provided a significant prognostic contribution.