Abstract
BACKGROUND: Inflammation has been reported to be involved in carcinogenesis and cancer progression. This study was designed to explore the prognostic significance of lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) and serum C-reactive protein (CRP) in nonmetastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) patients after treatment. METHODS: The retrospective study consisted of 985 patients with ccRCC who had undergone nephrectomy from 2005 to 2010 at multiple centers. The patients were divided into four groups using a quartile of LMR or CRP, and their associations with clinical characteristics and outcome were systematically estimated. RESULTS: Both low LMR and high CRP significantly diminished overall survival (OS) and metastasis-free survival (MFS) in patients with ccRCC. Further investigation indicated that LMR and CRP were independent prognostic factors of both OS and MFS. Integration of LMR and CRP into a predictive model, including significant variables in multivariate analysis, established a nomogram to predict accurately the 3- and 5-year survival for nonmetastatic patients with ccRCC. CONCLUSION: LMR and CRP represent independent prognostic factors of OS and MFS for patients with ccRCC. Incorporation of LMR and CRP into the traditional TNM staging system may improve their predictive performance.