Li Q, Yu L, Yang P, et al. - Through retrospectively analyzing data from nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients from the Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, the authors discovered that high neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-lymphocyte-ratio (PLR), systemic immune index (SII), and systemic inflammation response index (SIRI) were significantly linked to poor overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in NPC patients. In the IMRT era, a high systemic inflammation response index (SIRI) may be an independent risk factor for PFS of NPC patients.

• Between January 2012 and July 2020, 342 NPC patients were recruited.

• The authors found optimal cut-off values of 2.65, 184.91, 804.08, and 1.34 for NLR, PLR, SII, and SIRI, respectively.

• K-M survival analysis showed that high NLR, PLR, SII, and SIRI were significantly linked to worse OS and PFS relative to those in the low groups.

• Results from univariate Cox analysis revealed that clinical, T, and M stages, as well as NLR, PLR, SII, and SIRI were correlated with OS, whereas age, alongside the aforementioned parameters, was related to PFS.

• Furthermore, multivariate Cox analysis revealed that age ≥ 49 years and M1 stage were independent predictors of OS, whereas SIRI ≥ 1.34 and M1 stage were independent predictors of PFS.