Sellers, CM, Uhlig J, et al. - A retrospective study was conducted to evaluate the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as a prognostic biomarker in Western patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the setting of chronic viral hepatitis. Researchers selected patients who were diagnosed with HCC from 2005 to 2016 from a tertiary care institution. They computed NLR within 30 days prior to treatment and dichotomized at the median. They further used Kaplan–Meier overall survival (OS) curves and Cox hazard proportional models. The study enrolled a total of 581 patients (median age 61.0 yr; 78.3% male; 66.3% Caucasian) with median OS = 34.9 mo. It was shown that lower baseline NLR was correlated with increased overall survival in HCC. Viral hepatitis serves as an effect modifier of NLR, attenuating its prognostic relevance in this hepatitis C-predominant population.