Prognostic Value of a New Marker, IBI Score and NLR Change in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Receiving Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (Prognostic value of IBI score and NLR change in NSCLC)

This study aims to investigate the prognostic value of IBI score (inflammatory benchmark index) and NLR (neutrophil lymphocyte ratio) change during treatment for overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. A total of 155 NSCLC patients without driver mutations who were treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) were included in the study. Laboratory and clinical parameters evaluated at the beginning and third month of ICI treatment were retrospectively recorded. The prognostic value of IBI score, NLR ratio and NLR change values were analysed using CRP, neutrophil, lymphocyte and platelet values. The median follow-up period was 26 months. Chemotherapy and ICI status of the patients were recorded. Regardless of the stage of immunotherapy, 34.8% of the patients (54 patients) did not progress after ICI. 101 patients (65.2%) progressed after ICI. The increase in mortality was significant when NLR≥10.25 (p<0.001) and NLR Change≥3.60 (p<0.001). Age (p=0.021), ECOG performance (p=0.043), stage at diagnosis (p=0.013), NLR change (p<0.001) and NLR (p<0.001) were significantly associated with mOS. Age (p=0.013), stage at diagnosis (p=0.004), IBI score (p=0.027), NLR change (p=0.001) and NLR (p=0.002) were prognostic for PFS. All these results suggest that ‘IBI score and NLR change’ can be used as prognostic markers for ICI treatment response in NSCLC patients.