Background: The present study aimed to investigate the prognostic and predictive roles of Hb/RDW ratio in patients with mRCC treated with first-line immunotherapy combinations (TKI plus ICI or ICI plus ICI).
Materials and methods: We performed a sub-analysis of a multicenter retrospective observational study (ARON-1 project) involving patients with mRCC treated with first-line immunotherapy combinations.
Results: Three hundred and twenty-nine patients were enrolled, 244 males and 85 females. Median age was 65.5 years. The prognostic impact of the Hb/RDW ratio on PFS and OS was observed in the whole population examined. Hb/RDW ratio had a correlation with neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), a blood inflammatory parameter.
Conclusion: Hb/RDW ratio is a new inflammatory prognostic factor, easy to use in daily clinical practice.
Keywords: NLR; Prognostic score; RDW; hemoglobin; immune checkpoint inhibitors; metastatic renal cell carcinoma; ratio; tyrosine-kinase inhibitors.
This study examined patients with advanced kidney cancer treated with immunotherapy combinations, focusing on the Hb/RDW ratio, a simple measure from routine blood tests comparing hemoglobin levels to red blood cell size variation. The findings showed that patients with a lower Hb/RDW ratio had shorter survival. This suggests that the Hb/RDW ratio could be a useful tool for predicting patient outcomes. The ratio’s association with inflammation, which is known to influence cancer progression, may explain its significance. The hope is that the Hb/RDW ratio could help doctors make better treatment decisions for patients with advanced kidney cancer.