Evaluation of systemic inflammatory response biomarkers in patients receiving chemotherapy for unresectable and recurrent advanced gastric cancer

Background: The present study sought to evaluate an inflammation-based prognostic score (Glasgow prognostic score, GPS) and the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as prognostic factors in patients receiving chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer. Methods: The study enrolled 224 patients who received chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer at the Kochi Medical School from 2007 to 2014. Clinicopathological information and systemic inflammatory response data were obtained to investigate associations between baseline cancer-related prognostic variables and survival outcomes. Results: The median survival time was significantly higher for patients with intestinal-type compared to diffuse-type histology (p = 0.039), a GPS 0 score compared to GPS 1 or 2 score (p = 0.004), and lower compared to higher NLR 4 (p = 0.002). Multivariate survival analysis identified high NLR 4 (HR 1.651; 95% CI 1.187-2.297; p = 0.003) and diffuse-type histology (HR 1.645; 95% CI 1.025-2.639; p = 0.039) as significant independent predictors associated with worse prognosis in the studied group of cancer patients. Conclusions: NLR and histological type are independent prognostic factors for patients receiving chemotherapy for unresectable and recurrent gastric cancer.