Abstract:

Objective To investigate the role and optimal cut-off value of preoperative peripheral blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio（NLR） in the diagnosis of breast cancer. Methods A total of 131 breast cancer patients undergoing surgery and 120 patients with benign breast disease were enrolled. Totally,95 healthy females were enrolled as healthy control group. Neutrophil（NE）and lymphocyte（LY）counts were determined by SYSMEX XT-800i automatic hematology analyzer,and NLR was calculated. The levels of carbohydrate antigen 15-3（CA15-3）,carbohydrate antigen 125（CA125）and carcinoembryonic antigen（CEA）in peripheral blood were determined by electrochemiluminescence. According to receiver operating characteristic（ROC）curve,the optimal cut-off value was determined. Results In breast cancer group,NLR,NE,LY and CA15-3 were higher than those in healthy control and benign breast disease groups（P<0.05）. The area under curve（AUC） of NLR was 0.935,the optimal cut-off value was 1.995,the sensitivity was 85.2%,and the specificity was 87.1%. Based on NLR determination,the sensitivity and specificity of the combined determination with CA15-3 were 98.0% and 92.6%,respectively could improve the sensitivity. Conclusions The optimal cut-off value of NLR is 1.995,and the sensitivity and specificity can be improved through the combined determination with CA15-3 in the diagnosis of breast cancer,which can guide the diagnosis and disease severity assessment of breast cancer.

Key words: Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, Carbohydrate antigen 15-3, Breast cancer