The Role of Platelet to Lymphocyte Ratio (PLR) in Predicting Early Treatment Response in Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma

Systemic inflammatory response in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is closely related to disease prognosis. Our aim is to determine the role of pretreatment platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in predicting early treatment response in DLBCL patients.

This retrospective study included 94 patients. The correlation of PLR at the time of diagnosis with early treatment response was evaluated.

66 patients responded to treatment and 28 patients were unresponsive or partially responsive. In univariate analysis, age, eastern cooperative oncology group performance status (ECOG-PS), disease stage, extranodal involvement, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), PLR, hemoglobin, albumin, lymphocyte, platelet (HALP) score were found to predict response to treatment. Multivariate analysis revealed that PLR and ECOG-PS were independent predictors of early treatment response.

PLR can be used by clinicians as an effective, inexpensive inflammatory parameter supplementary to the IPI score to predict early treatment response to chemoimmunotherapy. Treatment of patients with DLBCL with high PLR at the time of diagnosis with more potent regimens may be a rational approach for patients to benefit more from treatment.