Chi Pan,1,* Yawen Gu,2,* Qingtao Ni2 

1Department of General Surgery, The Affiliated Taizhou People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Taizhou School of Clinical Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Taizhou, 225300, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Oncology, The Affiliated Taizhou People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Taizhou School of Clinical Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Taizhou, 225300, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Qingtao Ni, Department of Oncology, Jiangsu Taizhou People’s Hospital, Taihu Road 366, Taizhou, 225300, People’s Republic of China, Tel +8618852656280, Email niqingtao@njmu.edu.cn

Objective: This study examined the potential risk value of the serum albumin to globulin ratio (AGR) in patients with breast cancer (BC).
Methods: This study employed a retrospective design, enrolling 332 patients with BC and 38 patients without BC treated at Taizhou People’s Hospital between September 2015 and May 2021. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to identify potential risk factors. A prognostic nomogram was developed based on the multivariate analyses. The receiver operating characteristic curve determined the optimal cutoff value for AGR.
Results: The results indicated a statistically significant decrease in AGR among patients with BC. Significant disparities were observed in globulin and AGR levels between the two cohorts. AGR was significantly associated with tumor size and stage, with a marked decline in advanced stages of BC. Additionally, AGR and aspartate transaminase/Alanine aminotransferase (AST/ALT) emerged as significant diagnostic indicators for invasive carcinoma and advanced stages (II–IV) of BC. Specifically, AGR exhibited an area under the curve of 0.645 (P < 0.003), highlighting the discriminatory capacity of serum globulin levels in distinguishing between BC and non-BC cohorts.
Conclusions: The AGR, routinely assessed due to its simplicity, objectivity, and cost-effectiveness, holds promise as a potential risk factor for BC and may have practical implications in clinical settings.

Keywords: albumin to globulin ratio, risk factor, breast cancer, retrospective study