Lymphopenia predicts reduced survival in canine hepatocellular carcinoma.

Platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) is a prognostic marker in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) however, its utility in canine HCC has not been explored. The aim of the study was to determine if PLR could predict survival outcomes in 42 dogs with HCC. PLR was not a significant predictive factor ( p = 0.15) but lymphopenia alone was significantly correlated with a reduced probability of survival ( p = 0.024). Further studies are needed to evaluate if peripheral lymphocyte count mirrors that of the tumor microenvironment in canine HCC.
Competing Interests: Conceptualization: Johnston AN; Data curation: Suarez-Rodriguez JI; Formal analysis: Liu CC; Investigation: Suarez-Rodriguez JI; Methodology: Suarez-Rodriguez JI; Project administration: Johnston AN; Software: Liu CC; Supervision: Johnston AN; Validation: Liu CC, Dehghanpir SD Johnston AN; Visualization: Liu CC, Johnston AN; Writing - original draft: Suarez-Rodriguez JI; Writing - review & editing: Liu CC, Dehghanpir SD, Johnston AN.
(© 2023 The Korean Society of Veterinary Science.)