neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio as a prognostic biomarker for patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma treated with definitive chemoradiotherapy

www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN received: 22 August 2016 accepted: 12 January 2017 Published: 14 February 2017 Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio as a prognostic biomarker for patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma treated with definitive chemoradiotherapy Xi-Lei Zhou1,*, Yong-Qiang  Li2,*, Wei-Guo Zhu1, Chang-Hua Yu1, Ya-Qi Song1, Wan-Wei Wang1, Dong-Cheng He1, Guang-Zhou Tao1 & Yu-Suo Tong1 The present study evaluated the clinical and prognostic value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) treated with definitive chemoradiotherapy (dCRT) A total of 517 patients with ESCC were enrolled and analysed retrospectively The NLR was calculated at three time points: baseline, post-treatment, and at the time of tumor progression Elevated NLR was defined as a ratio ≥5 High NLR at baseline was present in 204 (39%) patients and was significantly correlated with larger tumour size, advanced TNM stage, worse ECOG performance status, and dCRT response (p