The preoperative C-reactive protein–lymphocyte ratio and the prognosis of oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma

Background: We aimed to investigate the preoperative C-reactive protein (CRP)–lymphocyte ratio (CLR) as a prognostic biomarker in oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Methods: Three hundred and sixteen patients with OSCC treated with curative surgery were retrospectively assessed and the receiver operating characteristic curve was used to evaluate the discriminative ability of inflammatory markers. The prognostic value of CLR was investigated with Cox proportional hazards analysis. Results: The CLR cutoff of 3.88 (p < 0.001) demonstrated optimal prognostic performance compared with other inflammatory combinations. A higher preoperative CLR (≥3.88) was significantly associated with clinicopathological aggressiveness and predicted unfavorable overall survival and disease-free survival (hazard ratios = 3.498 and 1.994, respectively; both p < 0.001). The CLR-based nomogram provided accurate survival prediction (concordance index: 0.803). Conclusions: Preoperative CLR is a feasible prognostic biomarker in patients with OSCC, and the CLR-based nomogram might serve as prognostic tool in era of personalized medicine.