Pretreatment Levels of Peripheral Neutrophils and Leukocytes As Independent Predictors of Overall Survival in Patients With American Joint Committee on Cancer Stage IV Melanoma: Results of the EORTC 18951 Biochemotherapy Trial

Abstract

A high pretreatment count of neutrophils in blood was confirmed as an independent prognostic factor for short overall survival in stage IV melanoma patients undergoing interleukin-2-based immunotherapy. Furthermore, a high count of leukocytes was an independent prognostic factor for short overall survival and progression-free survival. Both parameters should be useful as stratification factors in clinical trials.