The Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio Predicts the Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Luminal B Breast Cancer

Objective: Tumor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in breast cancer (BC) patients is a predictor foroverall survival. The aim of our study was to determine a relationship between the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio(NLR) prior to NAC, BC subtypes and the probability of a pathologic complete response (pCR). Materials andMethods: Medical records were collected retrospectively from Centro de Cancer at Red Salud UC-Christus. Clinicaldata collected included peripheral blood cell counts, BC subtype at diagnosis and the pathology report of surgeryafter chemotherapy. Results: A total of 88 patients were analyzed. Approximately, a 25% had a pCR, and displayed asignificant correlation between BC subtype and pCR (p= 0.0138 Chi2); this was more frequent in epidermal growthfactor receptor type 2 (HER2) enriched subtype patients (54%). Luminal B BC patients with a pCR had significantlylower NLR levels (t test, p= 0.0181). Conclusions: HER2-enriched tumors had a higher probability of pCR. In LuminalB tumors, NLR had a statistically significant relationship with the probability of pCR. In this subtype, NLR could bea useful biomarker to predict tumor response to NAC. Further studies including other clinical parameters for systemicinflammation such as platelet counts, intratumoral NLR or body mass index could help identify patients that wouldget the most benefit from NAC.