The predictive value of inflammatory nutritional indicators in the prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the era of immunotherapy

NASOPHARYNGEAL CARCINOMA (NPC) EXHIBITS DISTINCT EPIDEMIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS. THE TNM STAGING SYSTEM SERVES AS THE PRIMARY BASIS FOR TREATMENT AND PROGNOSTIC EVALUATION, YET IT INADEQUATELY REFLECTS TUMOR HETEROGENEITY AND HOST IMMUNE STATUS. IN RECENT YEARS, INFLAMMATORY NUTRITIONAL INDICATORS DERIVED FROM PERIPHERAL BLOOD PARAMETERS, SUCH AS THE NEUTROPHIL-TO-LYMPHOCYTE RATIO (NLR), SYSTEMIC IMMUNE-INFLAMMATION INDEX (SII), PAN-IMMUNE-INFLAMMATION VALUE (PIV), AND PROGNOSTIC NUTRITIONAL INDEX (PNI), HAVE BEEN DEMONSTRATED TO EFFECTIVELY ASSESS SYSTEMIC INFLAMMATORY RESPONSES AND NUTRITIONAL STATUS. STUDIES INDICATE THAT THESE MARKERS SIGNIFICANTLY CORRELATE WITH TREATMENT RESPONSE, PROGRESSION-FREE SURVIVAL (PFS), AND OVERALL SURVIVAL (OS) IN NPC PATIENTS, SHOWING CONSIDERABLE VALUE IN PREDICTING THE EFFICACY OF IMMUNE CHECKPOINT INHIBITORS. THIS REVIEW SYSTEMATICALLY ELUCIDATES THE PREDICTIVE VALUE OF INFLAMMATORY NUTRITIONAL INDICATORS IN NPC PROGNOSIS WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF IMMUNOTHERAPY, PROVIDING A NEW RATIONALE FOR INDIVIDUALIZED TREATMENT STRATEGIES.