Pinato DJ et al. - The purpose of the current study was to confirm that systemic inflammation is a prognostic factor in HIV-associated HCC.Systemic inflammation, as measured by the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), was shown to be a prognostic determinant associated with adverse pathologic features of malignancy, but not co-existing HIV infection.

Methods

• A multi-center database was used to determine the prognostic value of a panel of inflammatory biomarkers in HIV-infected patients with HCC.

Results

• 59 patients with HIV-associated HCC secondary to hepatitis C (69%) or B virus infection (32%) were studied.
• The median survival time was 22 months.
• An elevated NLR predicted patient survival and was correlated with advanced Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage and poor performance status, but not with HIV RNA or CD4 counts.