The Utility of Immuno-Nutritional Scores in Patients with Testicular Germ Cell Tumors

Uros Bumbasirevic; Milos Petrovic; Vesna Coric; Nikola Lisicic; David Obucina; Milica Zekovic; Bogomir Milojevic; Nenad Vasilic; Vladimir Vasic; Marko Zivkovic; Nebojsa Bojanic; Aleksandar Janicic

doi:10.3390/diagnostics14192196

The Utility of Immuno-Nutritional Scores in Patients with Testicular Germ Cell Tumors

Diagnostics (Basel). 2024 Oct 1;14(19):2196. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics14192196.

Authors

Uros Bumbasirevic^{1

2}, Milos Petrovic¹, Vesna Coric^{3

4}, Nikola Lisicic¹, David Obucina¹, Milica Zekovic⁵, Bogomir Milojevic^{1

2}, Nenad Vasilic¹, Vladimir Vasic⁶, Marko Zivkovic¹, Nebojsa Bojanic^{1

2}, Aleksandar Janicic^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Clinic of Urology, University Clinical Center of Serbia, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
² Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
³ Institute of Medical and Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
⁴ Center of Excellence for Redox Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
⁵ Centre of Research Excellence in Nutrition and Metabolism, Institute for Medical Research, National Institute of Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
⁶ Department of Urology, University Medical Center Zvezdara, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.

Abstract

Background: Hemoglobin, Albumin, Lymphocyte, and Platelet Score (HALP) is an accessible score that is easily reproducible from routine laboratory testing while also reflecting patients' immune-nutritional status. Along with other immuno-nutritional scores, such as the Prognostic Nutrition Index (PNI), HALP has been associated with a number of clinical and pathological features. The goal of our study was to evaluate the prognostic utility of HALP and PNI scores in testicular germ cell cancer (GCT) patients.

Methods: This case-only study included 203 testicular GCT patients who were classified according to the disease stage and HALP and PNI cut-offs. Complete blood count and albumin concentration were routinely determined.

Results: The values of HALP and PNI significantly differed among different clinical stages (p < 0.05). Moreover, they clearly exposed a significantly higher risk of advanced clinical stage development for those testicular GCT patients with lower values of HALP and PNI (p < 0.05). Finally, lower score levels were associated with larger tumor size (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Our investigation could provide evidence that specific immune-nutritional scores can help distinguish individuals diagnosed with testicular GCT who are more likely to be identified with advanced disease stages.

Keywords: HALP; PNI; immuno-nutritional scores; testicular GCT.

Grants and funding

Author V.C. receives personal institutional funding from the Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of the Republic of Serbia (contract number: 451-03-66/2024-03/200110). Author M.Z. receives personal institutional funding from the Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of the Republic of Serbia (contract number: 451-03-66/2024-03/200015).