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.