Inflammation-nutritional markers of peripheral blood could predict survival in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer patients treated with PD-1 inhibitors.

Background Inflammation-nutritional markers of peripheral blood are easily assessed and can predict survival. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between inflammation-nutritional parameters and survival of anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1) therapy in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Methods We performed a retrospective study from March 2017 to April 2020 in advanced NSCLC patients treated with PD-1 inhibitors. Univariable and multivariable analyses were conducted to evaluate the relationship between peripheral blood parameters (absolute lymphocyte count [ALC], absolute neutrophil count [ANC], absolute monocyte count [AMC], absolute eosinocyte count [AEC], lactic dehydrogenase [LDH], plasma-albumin [ALB], neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio [NLR], and platelet/lymphocyte ratio [PLR]) measured before therapy initiation and prognosis. Results Among 184 evaluable patients, 134 (72.8%) were male and the median age was 58 years (range 33-87) with 31 (16.8%) ≥70 years. An elevated ANC (≥7500/ul), NLR (≥5), and PLR (≥200) was significantly associated with worse objective response rate (ORR), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS), while increased ALC (≥1000/ul) and ALB (≥3.5 g/dl) could significantly improve survival in terms of ORR, PFS, and OS. In multivariate analyses, higher AEC (≥150/ul) and AMC (≥650/ul) could significantly decrease the risk of death (hazard ratio [HR] 0.363, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.141-0.931, p = 0.035; HR 0.370, 95% CI 0.203-0.675, p = 0.001). A higher NLR and PLR, and lower ALB were independent predictors of poor prognosis for OS (HR 1.964, 95% CI 1.027-3.755, p = 0.041; HR 4.255, 95% CI 2.364-7.658, p = 0.000; HR 1.962, 95% CI 1.213-3.174, p = 0.006, respectively). Conclusion Our research illustrated that pretreatment AEC, AMC, ALB, NLR, and PLR are independent predictors for survival in advanced NSCLC patients treated with PD-1 inhibitors.