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Background: Leukocytes play an important role in cancer development. However, the impact of chemotherapyassociated neutropenia/lymphopenia on the prognosis of adjuvant chemotherapy is unknown. Here, we aimed to explore the impact of chemotherapy-associated neutrophil/lymphocyte counts on prognosis of adjuvant chemotherapy in colorectal cancer (CRC) and the risk factors for developing neutropenia/lymphopenia which showed impact on the prognosis of CRC receiving adjuvant chemotherapy. Methods: From February 2003 to January 2011, 243 stage II and III CRC patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy were enrolled in this retrospective study. The associations between neutrophil/ lymphocyte counts and disease free survival (DFS)/overall survival (OS) of CRC, and the risk factors for neutropenia/lymphopenia were investigated. Results: No association of chemotherapy-associated neutrophil counts and CRC recurrence (AUC = 0.474, P = 0.534), death (AUC = 0.449, P = 0.249) was found by ROC analysis. However, the chemotherapy-associated lymphocyte counts could significantly affect CRC recurrence (AUC = 0.634, P = 0.001), or death(AUC = 0.607, P = 0.015), with a optimized cut-off of 0.66 × 109/L for recurrence, and 0.91 × 109/L for death, respectively. Kaplan-Meier method showed chemotherapy-associated lymphopenia <0.66 × 109/L was associated with shorter DFS (P < 0.0001), and chemotherapy-associated lymphopenia <0.91 × 109/L was associated with shorter OS (P = 0.003). Cox regression model showed chemotherapy-associated lymphopenia <0.66 × 109/L was the independent prognostic factor for DFS (HR, 3.521; 95%CI = 1.703-7.282), and chemotherapy-associated lymphopenia <0.91 × 109/L was the independent prognostic factor for OS (HR, 2.083; 95% CI = 1.103-3.936). Multivariate logistic regression showed the risk of developing chemotherapy-associated lymphopenia <0.66 × 109/L was found in those with pretreatment CEA ⩾10 ng ml-1 (OR, 3.338; 95% CI = 1.523-7.315), and the risk of developing chemotherapy-associated lymphopenia <0.91 × 109/L was found in those with age >60 years (OR, 2.872; 95% CI = 1.344-6.136). Conclusions: Chemotherapy-associated lymphopenia <0.66 × 109/L /0.91 × 109/L has a significant impact on the prognosis of CRC receiving adjuvant chemotherapy. Pretreatment CEA ⩾10 ng ml-1 is the independent risk factor for developing lymphopenia <0.66 × 109/L, and age >60 years is the independent risk factor for developing lymphopenia <0.91 × 109/L during adjuvant chemotherapy of CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To analyze the clinicopathological features and prognosis of colorectal cancer patients with preoperative cancer-related anemia., Methods: Clinical data of 354 patients with colorectal cancer in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College from January 2003 to July 2009 were analyzed retrospectively. Those with hemoglobin(Hb)<120 g/L before surgery were defined as cancer-related anemia., Results: Of the 354 colorectal cancer cases, 195 were males and 159 were females. The median age was 65(range 22-92) years. Preoperative cancer-related anemia tended to be occurred in female(P<0.01) and those with preoperative albumin ≤35 g/L (P<0.01), right colon cancer(P<0.01) and full-thickness invasion(P<0.05). Cox regression analysis showed preoperative cancer-related anemia was an independent unfavorable factor for overall survival (HR=1.60, 95% CI:1.05-2.44; P<0.05), but not for disease-free survival (HR=1.43, 95% CI:0.97-2.12; P>0.05) in colorectal cancer., Conclusions: Preoperative cancer-related anemia plays an important role in the development and prognosis of colorectal cancer and great attention should be paid to clinical practice.