Tumor-stroma ratio (TSR) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients after lung resection is a prognostic factor for survival

In recent years, the tumor-stroma ratio (TSR) has been considered to a new and independent predictive variable for the prognosis of some kinds of neoplasms. The objective of this study was to assess the prognostic significance of the TSR in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).A cohort of 261 NSCLC patients who underwent radical surgery of lung cancer were included in the present study. Two independent observers visually estimated the TSR on hematoxylin-eosin (HE) stained tissue pathological slices. According to the proportion of stroma ≥50% or50%, We separate the patients into two groups: those with stroma-poor and those with stroma-rich tumors.Both univariate and multivariate analyses disclosed that the TSR was associated with overall survival (OS) [hazard ratio (HR), 1.741; 95% confidence intervals (CI), 1.040-2.913 and HR, 1.904; 95% CI, 1.132-3.202, respectively]. The HR values for disease-free survival (DFS) were 1.795 (95% CI, 1.073-3.005) and 2.034 (95% CI, 1.210-3.420). The OS and DFS of patients with stroma-poor tumors were better than those with stroma-rich tumors.These results demonstrated that the TSR is a new prognostic factor for NSCLC. Stroma-poor tumors were associated with longer disease-free period and better prognosis than were stroma-rich tumors in NSCLC patients. The TSR may contribute to the development of individualized treatment for NSCLC in the future.