Association of derived neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (dNLR) with pathological complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (CT)

Abstract Background dNLR is a novel biomarker associated with clinical outcome in solid tumors including early stage breast cancer (BC). Here we report the association of dNLR with pCR in triple-negative (TN) and luminal BC patients (pts) treated with neoadjuvant CT. Methods This was a retrospective analysis of two randomized studies (GEICAM/2006-03 - NCT00432172 and ETNA - NCT01822314) involving 821 pts with early stage (>2cm) or locally advanced TN or luminal BC receiving anthracycline/taxane-based CT +/- carboplatin (GEICAM/2006-03) or nab-paclitaxel/paclitaxel followed by anthracycline regimen (ETNA). dNLR was calculated as the ratio of neutrophils and the difference between total leuko…