BACKGROUND: Hematological indicators and clinical characteristics play an important role in the evaluation of the progression and prognosis of thymic epithelial tumors. Therefore, we aimed to combine these potential indicators to establish a prognostic nomogram to determine the relapse-free survival (RFS) of patients with thymic epithelial tumors undergoing thymectomy.
METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted on 156 patients who underwent thymectomy between May 2004 and August 2015. Cox regression analysis were performed to determine the potential indicators related to prognosis and combine these indicators to create a nomogram for visual prediction. The prognostic predictive ability of the nomogram was evaluated using the consistency index (C-index), receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and risk stratification. Decision curve analysis was used to evaluate the net benefits of the model.
RESULTS: Preoperative albumin levels, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), T stage, and WHO histologic types were included in the nomogram. In the training cohort, the nomogram showed well prognostic ability (C index: 0.902). Calibration curves for the relapse-free survival (RFS) were in good agreement with the standard lines in training and validation cohorts.
CONCLUSIONS: Combining clinical and hematologic factors, the nomogram performed well in predicting the prognosis and the relapse-free survival of this patient population. And it has potential to identify high-risk patients at an early stage. This is a relatively novel approach for the prediction of RFS in this patient population.

BACKGROUND: Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) are correlated with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patient prognosis. However, there has been insufficient research regarding the relationship between systemic and local inflammatory states in patients with TNBC, and their effects on neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) efficacy.
METHODS: The clinical data of 395 patients with TNBC admitted from January 2010 to December 2018 were collected. The Pearson χ2 test was used to analyze correlations between clinical basic pathological features, NLR, sTILs, and pathological complete response (pCR). Kaplan-Meier and Cox analyses were performed to address which clinical parameters were prognostic factors of disease-free survival (DFS).
RESULTS: There was no correlation between NLR1 (baseline NLR) and sTILs (P > .05) in these patients with TNBC. Patients with TNBC with lower NLR3 (baseline NLR of patients receiving NAC) or higher sTILs scores had better pCR rates, but this failed to reach statistical significance (P > .05). Cox analysis showed that NLR1 and sTILs were independent prognostic indicators of DFS outcome in patients with TNBC (P < .01).
CONCLUSIONS: In patients with TNBC, low NLR1 and high sTILs are associated with prolonged DFS. However, the link between systemic and local inflammation markers needs further exploration.