Valero C, Zanoni DK, McGill MR, et al. - In an independent cohort of 1,369 oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients, researchers studied peripheral blood leukocytes (PBLs) as predictors of outcomes in OSCC and identified specific cutoffs with the objective of involving PBLs as host factor in the preoperative risk assessment of patients. Previously established head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cutoffs have been analyzed. Then optimal OSCC cutoffs from the external HNSCC cohort were found and validated in the subset of OSCC patients. Using the previous cutoffs, all parameters were significant predictors of survival. OSCC cutoffs, however, have better-stratified survival outcomes. The most robust independent predictors of overall survival among all PBLs in OSCC were pretreatment peripheral blood neutrophils, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, and Systemic Inflammation Response Index. The investigators present externally validated cutoffs demonstrating the viability of including PBLs as host features in OSCC's preoperative prognosis.