Prognostic value of circulating tumor cells combined with neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 4 Univariate Cox regression analysis based on overall survival

Variable	HR	Univariate Cox regression, 95%CI	P value
Male sex	0.784	0.282-2.182	0.641
Age ≥ 60 yr	0.967	0.553-1.692	0.907
HBV (positive)	1.091	0.621-1.917	0.763
Smoke (positive)	1.341	0.767-2.342	0.303
Alcohol (positive)	1.373	0.785-2.402	0.267
Hypertension (positive)	0.711	0.364-1.388	0.317
Diabetes mellitus (positive)	0.526	0.189-1.461	0.218
Liver cirrhosis (positive)	2.283	1.305-3.996	0.004
Child-Pugh class (A-B)	1.619	0.919-2.853	0.095
BCLC stage (B-C)	2.063	0.501-8.499	0.316
ALBI grade			0.026
1
2	1.589	0.889-2.842	0.118
3	4.111	1.394-12.126	0.010
AFP ≥ 400 ng/mL	2.697	1.535-4.740	0.001
Number of tumors ≥ 2	1.243	0.670-2.307	0.490
Tumor diameter ≥ 5 cm	1.016	0.576-1.793	0.957
PVTT (positive)	1.737	0.992-3.042	0.053
Lymph node metastasis (positive)	1.695	0.911-3.154	0.095
Extrahepatic metastases (positive)	1.202	0.669-2.159	0.539
CTC PD-L1 (+) > 1	6.657	3.590-12.345	< 0.001
NLR > 3.89	3.841	2.136-6.908	< 0.001
CTC-NLR			< 0.001
0
1	2.748	1.229-6.145	0.014
2	9.720	4.679-20.192	0.000

HBV: Hepatitis B virus; BCLC: Barcelona clinic liver cancer; ALBI: Albumin-bilirubin; AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein; PVTT: Portal vein tumor thrombus; NLR: Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio; CTC: Circulating tumor cell; HR: Hazard ratio; 95%CI: 95% confidence interval.