Neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is considered a potential prognostic marker in early breast cancer. However, the prognosis of absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) and NLR in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) has been reported in a few studies, and conclusions are still conflicting. This present manuscript aims to provide further solid evidence regarding the prognostic values of ALC and NLR in MBC patients.
Eligible studies that reported the associations between ALC or NLR and MBC were included by searching relative electronic databases. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were used as outcome measures. The hazard ratio (HR) values and 95% confidence interval (CI) of the outcome measures were collected as effect sizes, and further analysis and discussion were conducted according to the pooled HR, subgroup analysis, publication bias, and interstudy heterogeneity.
Twenty-nine studies comprising 3,973 patients with MBC were included. According to our findings, lower ALC was significantly associated with poorer prognosis of OS (HR = 0.57, 95% CI 0.48 to 0.68) and PFS (HR = 0.68, 95% CI 0.58 to 0.79), and greater NLR was associated with poorer OS (HR = 1.50, 95% CI 1.35 to 1.67) and PFS (HR = 1.82, 95% CI 1.42 to 2.35). Furthermore, the prognostic values of ALC and NLR in MBC were also observed in the subgroup analyses regarding cutoff values and ethnicities.
Low ALC and elevated NLR were observed to be significantly associated with adverse OS and PFS in MBC, indicating that ALC and NLR may act as potential prognostic biomarkers of MBC patients. Meanwhile, our results will also provide some novel evidence and research clues for the selection and development of clinical treatment strategies for MBC patients.