Systemic inflammatory markers have independent prognostic value in patients with metastatic testicular germ cell tumours undergoing first-line chemotherapy
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: The prognostic utility of systemic inflammatory markers has so far not been investigated in patients with metastatic testicular germ cell tumours (GCTs). METHODS: International Germ Cell Cancer Cooperative Group (IGCCCG) risk groups and blood-based systemic inflammatory markers (haemoglobin, leukocytes, platelets (P), neutrophils (N), lymphocytes (L), C-reactive protein (CRP) and albumin) of 146 patients undergoing first-line chemotherapy for GCT were retrieved. In addition, N to L ratio (NLR), P to L ratio and the systemic immune-inflammation index (SII=N × P/L) were calculated. The prognostic ability of these markers for overall survival (OS) were assessed using regression analyses and Kaplan-Meier curves with log-rank tests. RESULTS: In univariate Cox regression, low haemoglobin and albumin as well as high leukocytes, N, NLR, SII and CRP were associated with a shorter OS. In multivariable Cox regression analyses, high leukocyte (hazard ratio (HR) 1.274 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.057-1.535); P=0.011) and N count (1.470 (1.092-1.980); P=0.011), higher NLR (84.5 (2.2-3193.4); P=0.017) and SII (12.15 (1.17-126.26); P=0.037) remained independent prognostic predictors for OS besides the IGCCCG risk groups. CONCLUSIONS: Systemic inflammatory markers might have prognostic utility for patients with metastatic GCT. The planned IGCCCG update could be an opportunity to test these markers in a larger data set.
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Various studies reported significant differences between NLR, LMR, and SII in early and advanced stage GCTs.
“Various studies reported that there were significant differences between neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) and systemic inflammation index (SII), in early and advanced stage GCTs [31,32,33,34,35].”
From The Immune Landscape and Immunotherapeutic Strategies in Platinum-Refractory Testicular Germ Cell Tumors (2024) · cites this paper as [33]
The Methods and Results describe NLR and SII in patients receiving first-line chemotherapy for metastatic GCT and report significant associations with survival. They do not compare early- and advanced-stage GCTs or report LMR, so they do not support the claimed stage differences across all three markers. The available passages have no page numbers. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSII and other systemic inflammatory markers are independent prognostic predictors for OS in addition to IGCCCG risk group classification.
“SII and the other systemic inflammatory markers were characterized as independent prognostic predictors for OS in addition to the IGCCCG risk group classification [33].”
From The Immune Landscape and Immunotherapeutic Strategies in Platinum-Refractory Testicular Germ Cell Tumors (2024) · cites this paper as [33]
The Results report that SII, NLR, leukocyte count and neutrophil count independently predicted overall survival alongside IGCCCG risk groups. But “the other systemic inflammatory markers” is too broad: the same section says haemoglobin, CRP and albumin were not confirmed as independent prognostic variables. The analyses tested each marker separately. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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Evmorfopoulos, K., Marsitopoulos, K., Karachalios, R., Karathanasis, A., Dimitropoulos, K., Tzortzis, V., Zachos, I., & Vlachostergios, P. J. (2024) · Cancers · doi:10.3390/cancers16020428 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
“SII and the other systemic inflammatory markers were characterized as independent prognostic predictors for OS in addition to the IGCCCG risk group classification [33].”
Method
- Authors
- Fankhauser, C. D., Sander, S., Roth, L., Gross, O., Eberli, D., Sulser, T., Seifert, B., Beyer, J., & Hermanns, T.
- Affiliations
- University of Zurich (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Beyer, Joerg
- ORCID
- Venue
- British Journal of Cancer
- Published
- 2018-02-27
- Volume
- 118
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 825-830
- ISSN
- 0007-0920 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-1827
- PMC
- PMC5877429
- OpenAlex
- W2790603075
- Cited by
- 80
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 7
- FWCI
- 3.57
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- British Journal of Cancer (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Bern Open Repository and Information System (University of Bern) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Inflammatory Biomarkers in Disease Prognosis
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Testicular diseases and treatments
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Lung Cancer Research Studies
- Keywords
- systemic inflammatory markers, prognostic factors, overall survival, first-line chemotherapy, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, systemic immune-inflammation index, C-reactive protein, hemoglobin, albumin, leukocytes, platelets
- MeSH terms
- Progression-Free Survival, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Blood Platelets, Humans, Immunohistochemistry, Inflammation, Lymphocytes, Male, Middle Aged, Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal, Neutrophils, Prognosis, Retrospective Studies, Testicular Neoplasms, Cohort Studies, Tissue Array Analysis, Kaplan-Meier Estimate, Young Adult, Translational Research, Biomedical
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