Background and objective: Analysis of inflammatory biomarkers, along with the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) or platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), supports the connection between inflammation and carcinogenesis. Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study at the Clinical County Hospital Mureș involving patients with lung cancer. The parameters analyzed included histopathological type (NSCLC: squamous cell carcinoma or adenocarcinoma; SCLC), molecular mutations (EGFR, ALK, PD-L1), parameters from the complete blood count, inflammatory parameters, and associated comorbidities. Results: A total of 380 patients were included: 115 patients in the cancer group and 265 patients in the control group. Among patients in the lung cancer group, 88 were diagnosed with NSCLC (44 adenocarcinomas, 44 squamous cell carcinomas) and 27 with SCLC. Both NLR and PLR were significantly higher in cancer patients than in the control group (5.30 versus 2.60, p < 0.001; 217 versus 136, p < 0.001, respectively). NLR and PLR differ between men and women (p = 0.005 and p = 0.056, respectively). C-reactive protein was not correlated with either NLR (p-value: 0.0669) or PLR (p-value: 0.6733) in lung cancer patients. Conclusions: The NLR and PLR values may serve as new predictive biomarkers for the diagnosis of disease in patients with lung cancer, especially those with NSCLC.

Background and objective: Analysis of inflammatory biomarkers, along with the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) or platelets/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), supports the connection between inflammation and carcinogenesis. Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study at the Clinical County Hospital Mureș, including patients with lung cancer. The parameters analyzed included: histopathological type (NSCLC - squamous cell carcinoma or adenocarcinoma; SCLC), molecular mutations (EGFR, ALK, PD-L1), parameters from the complete blood count, inflammatory parameters and associated comorbidities. Results: 380 patients were included: 115 patients in the cancer group and 265 patients in the control group. Among patients in the lung cancer group, 88 were diagnosed with NSCLC (44 adenocarcinomas, 44 squamous cell carcinomas) and 27 with SCLC. Both NLR and PLR were significantly higher in cancer patients than in the control group (5,30 versus 2,60, p<0,001; 217 versus 136, p< 0.001, respectively). NLR and PLR differs between men and women (p = 0.005, respectively p=0.056). C-reactive protein was not correlated with either NLR (p-value: 0.0669) or PLR (p-value: 0.6733) in lung cancer patients. Conclusion: The NLR and PLR values ​​may serve as new predictive biomarkers for the diagnostic of disease in patients with lung cancer, especially those with NSCLC.

Systemic sclerosis (also known as scleroderma) is a chronic fibrosing autoimmune disease with both skin and multisystem organ involvement. Scleroderma has the highest mortality among all rheumatic diseases. The pathophysiology mechanism of systemic sclerosis is a progressive self-amplifying process, which involves widespread microvascular damage, followed by a dysregulation of innate and adaptive immunity and inflammation and diffuse fibrosis of the skin and visceral organs. Fibrosis of internal organs is a hint for systemic sclerosis, moreover associated with interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) is a complex process. In order to correlate scientific data from the literature with clinical experience, we present the case of a 56-year-old woman who was diagnosed with systemic sclerosis 16 years ago. The association of numerous comorbidities characterized by a considerable level of seriousness characterizes this case: the highly extensive systemic damage, the cardiovascular impact of the illness, and the existence of severe pulmonary arterial hypertension. The systemic and clinical manifestations, respiratory functional tests, radiological features, and specific therapy are discussed.

Neutrophil counts and, especially, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) seem to be a reliable biomarker to distinguish an active tuberculosis (TB) from a latent one or a pulmonary tuberculosis from a bacterial community-acquired pneumonia. In conditions of systemic inflammation, the rise in neutrophil count occurs due to reduced apoptosis of these cells. Consequently, the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio increases, which correlates with elevated mortality rates. We conducted a retrospective study and we included 105 patients with a diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis who have been continuously admitted to the Pneumology/TB Department. The NLR average value was 6,92 and we observed increased values in patients with cachexia as comorbidities associated. Smoking status was another item that elevated NLR levels. Ratio value at discharge was lower than the NLR value at admission. The age group over 65 had the highest values. NLR has proven to be a valuable prognostic tool, correlating independently with mortality in various diseases like tuberculosis, pneumonia, COVID-19, and cancer.

Systemic sclerosis (also known as scleroderma) is a chronic fibrosing autoimmune disease with both skin and multisystem organ involvement. Scleroderma has the highest mortality among all rheumatic diseases. The pathophysiology mechanism of systemic sclerosis is a progressive self-amplifying process, which implicates the widespread microvascular damage, followed by a dysregulation of innate and adaptive immunity and inflammation, and diffuse fibrosis of the skin and visceral organs. Fibrosis of internal organs is a hint for systemic sclerosis, moreover associated with interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) is a complex process. We report a case of a 56 years old female, diagnosed with Systemic Sclerosis 16 years ago. The systemic and clinical manifestations, respiratory functional tests, radiological aspects and specific therapy were discussed.