Introduction: This research was conducted to explore the relationship between the systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and breast imaging-reporting and data system (BI-RADS) classification using ultrasonography and the survival of patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) in a cohort of Chinese.
Methods: A total of 215 TNBC patients treated at our hospital between November 2008 and March 2016 were enrolled in this study. We used the log-rank test and Kaplan–Meier curves to assess the overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) differences between groups. The prognostic role of SII and other clinicopathological characteristics in TNBC patients were identified using the Cox regression model.
Results: Patients with low and high SII had median OS of 60.9 and 40.3 months, respectively, (HR=3.78, 95% CI: 2.16–4.15, P <0.001); while the median DFS was 22.4 months and 14.4 months for TNBC patients with low and high SII, respectively (HR =3.16, 95% CI: 1.82–4.02, P <0.001). For patients with grade 5 ultrasonographic BI-RADS classification, the median DFS and OS were 41.2 and 16.5 months, respectively, whereas, it was 57.7 and 21.3 months, respectively, for those with BI-RADS grades 3–4 (P <0.01). According to multivariable analyses, increased SII was a risk factor that independently predicted poor OS (HR =2.96, 95% CI: 2.18–3.98, P <0.001) and DFS (HR = 2.85, 95% CI: 1.62–3.81, P =0.005). In addition, tumor stage, BI-RADS, and histological grade also independently predicted poor OS (P =0.002, <0.001, 0.004).
Conclusion: Pretreatment SII and BI-RADS 5 were independent indicators for prognosis in TNBC patients. It is imperative to conduct prospective studies to evaluate the potential role of SII in patient selection, treatment guidance, and design of clinical trials.
Keywords: TNBC, SII, inflammation, prognosis, immunity