AUTHOR=Zhang Ying-Ying , Li Wan-Qing , Li Zhen-Fa , Guo Xiao-Hua , Zhou Shen-Kang , Lin Aifen , Yan Wei-Hua 

TITLE=Higher Levels of Pre-operative Peripheral Lymphocyte Count Is a Favorable Prognostic Factor for Patients With Stage I and II Rectal Cancer

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2019

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2019.00960

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2019.00960

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=The clinical significance of peripheral blood parameters have been considered to be potential prognostic indicators for malignancies. In this study, 224 colorectal cancer (CRC; ncolon=103; nrectal=121) patients underwent resection were enrolled, and the pre- and post-operative clinical laboratory data within 1 week before and after surgery were collected, and prognostic value of the counts of white blood cell (WBC), neutrophil, lymphocyte and platelet, and the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) were analyzed. Data revealed that pre-operative lymphocyte count (pre-LC) was much higher than that of post-LC (p<0.001), and only rectal cancer patients with pre-LChigh (>median:1.61×109/L) had a significantly better overall survival (OS) and 5-year survival rate (SR) than those with pre-LClow (OS: 62.3 months vs 49.5 months; SR: 74.0% vs 43.0%; p=0.006). Cox’s proportional hazard models revealed that pre-LChigh was an independent favorable prognostic factor for rectal cancer patients (hazard ratio=0.348; p=0.003). Moreover, when the disease stages were stratified, the pre-LChigh was significantly associated with better prognosis of rectal cancer patients with stage I+II (n=65; OS: 67.5 months vs 54.3 months; p=0.011). Taken together, our study revealed that pre-operative lymphocyte count is an independent prognostic factor for patients with stage I and II rectal cancer.