Purpose: Several studies have explored the correlation between the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and the prognosis of patients with lung cancer. However, little is known about the correlation between the pretreatment NLR and the prognosis of patients with brain metastases from non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)-harboring mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR ) gene. We sought to evaluate the predictive values in brain metastasis from lung adenocarcinoma with EGFR  mutations.
Methods: We retrospectively examined 133 patients with brain metastases (BMs) from lung adenocarcinoma with EGFR  mutations. NLR was calculated using N/L, where N and L, respectively, refer to peripheral blood neutrophil (N) and lymphocyte (L) counts. The cut-off value of NLR was assessed by the area under the curve (AUC). The Log rank test and Cox proportional hazard model were used to confirm the impact of NLR and other variables on survival.
Results: An NLR value equal to or less than 2.99 was associated with prolonged survival in this cohort of patients in both variable and multivariable analysis.
Conclusion: We concluded that NLR is an independent prognostic factor in BMs from lung adenocarcinoma with EGFR  mutations. This could serve as a useful prognostic biomarker and could be incorporated in the clinical prognostic index specific to patients with BMs.
Keywords: neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, brain metastases, non–small cell lung cancer, EGFR  mutations