Inflammatory Indexes as Prognostic and Predictive Factors in Ovarian Cancer Treated with Chemotherapy Alone or Together with Bevacizumab. A Multicenter, Retrospective Analysis by the MITO Group (MITO 24)

• DOI: 10.1007/s11523-018-0574-1
• Publication Date: 2018-06-14T11:58:20Z
• Authors: Alberto Farolfi; Micaela Petrone; Emanuela Scarpi; Valentina Gallà; Filippo Greco; Claudia Casanova; Lucia Longo; Gennaro Cormio; Michele Orditura; Alessandra Bologna; Laura Zavallone; Jole Ventriglia; Elisena Franzese; Vera Loizzi; Donatella Giardina; Eva Pigozzi; Raffaella Cioffi; Sandro Pignata; Giorgio Giorda; Ugo De Giorgi
• Keywords: Adult; Aged, 80 and over; Inflammation; Ovarian Neoplasms; Cancer Research; Carcinoma, Ovarian Epithelial; Middle Aged; Prognosis; Progression-Free Survival; 3. Good health; Bevacizumab; Young Adult; 03 medical and health sciences; Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological; 0302 clinical medicine; Oncology; Humans; Pharmacology (medical); Female; Aged; Retrospective Studies

The variability in progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) among patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) makes it difficult to reliably predict outcomes. A predictive biomarker of bevacizumab efficacy as first-line therapy in EOC is still lacking.The MITO group conducted a multicenter, retrospective study (MITO 24) to investigate the role of inflammatory indexes as prognostic factors and predictors of treatment efficacy in FIGO stage III-IV EOC patients treated with first-line chemotherapy alone or in combination with bevacizumab.Of the 375 patients recruited, 301 received chemotherapy alone and 74 received chemotherapy with bevacizumab. The pre-treatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and systemic immune inflammation index (SII) were evaluated to identify a potential correlation with PFS and OS in both the overall population and the two treatment arms.In the overall population, the PFS and OS were significantly longer in patients with low inflammatory indexes (p < 0.0001). In multivariate analyses, the NLR was significantly associated with OS (p = 0.016), and the PLR was significantly associated with PFS (p = 0.024). Inflammatory indexes were significantly correlated with patient prognosis in the chemotherapy-alone group (p < 0.0001). Patients in the chemotherapy with bevacizumab group with a high NLR had a higher PFS and OS (p = 0.026 and p = 0.029, respectively) than those in the chemotherapy-alone group. Conversely, PFS and OS were significantly poorer in patients with a high SII (p = 0.024 and p = 0.017, respectively).Our results suggest that bevacizumab improves clinical outcome in patients with a high NLR but may be detrimental in those with a high SII.