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Blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio as a predictor of response to chemotherapy in head-and-neck cancers

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate whether pretreatment blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) could serve as a bio-predictor of response to chemotherapy for head-and-neck cancers (HNCs). Materials and Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed epithelial HNC were consecutively enrolled in the study. The pretreatment percent of neutrophils and lymphocytes in the peripheral blood smear slides and NLR for each patient were calculated. For patients that received chemotherapy, response rates and treatment toxicities were analyzed due to pretreatment mean NLR. Results: Of the total 46 included patients, 38 were men and 8 were women, with a mean age of 54 years (27–82 years). The mean NLR of the whole patients was 2.8. The overall response rate (complete response plus partial response) was 86%. The mean NLR was significantly lower in the group with higher response compared to no-response group (2.5 and 5.8, respectively; P= 0.027). The differences were also significant for percent of neutrophil and lymphocyte between these groups. There was no correlation between NLR and treatment toxicities. Conclusions: Our study proposed that pretreatment NLR might predict response to chemotherapy in epithelial HNCs.