Granulocyte-to-dendritic cell-ratio as marker for the immune monitoring in patients with renal cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been shown to be a predictor of patients' outcome for several types of malignancies. FINDINGS Using multicolor flow cytometry we searched for predictive markers to monitor blood immune cells in patients with renal cell carcinoma undergoing surgery of the primary tumor. Due to a high standard deviation, pre-surgery NLR values did not significantly differ between tumor patients and the control group. In contrast, the granulocyte-to-dendritic cell (DC) ratio revealed significant higher values in tumor patients. Whereas NLR values did not differ between patients with early stage tumors and locally advanced tumors, the granulocyte/DC ratio was significantly different in these groups. Additionally, comparison of both ratios before and after tumor resection in the two groups "open surgery" and "laparoscopy" could demonstrate the suitability of granulocyte/DC ratio as a marker for immune monitoring. CONCLUSIONS Granulocyte/DC ratio may serve as a new putative biomarker for the immune monitoring of tumor patients.