As a novel inflammatory-nutritional biomarker, the C-reactive protein–albumin–lymphocyte (CALLY) index has demonstrated significant prognostic value in several cancer types. However, its predictive significance for patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC) treated with thoracic radiotherapy (RT) remains elusive. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the pre/post-treatment CALLY index and the prognosis of patients with LA-NSCLC treated with thoracic RT. In this retrospective study, a cohort of 218 LA-NSCLC patients who underwent thoracic RT between 2012 and 2018 was assessed. The calculation of CALLY involved the use of C-reactive protein (CRP) level, albumin level, and lymphocyte count. Cox proportional hazards regression and the Kaplan-Meier survival analyses were employed to analyze the relationships between various variables and overall survival (OS), local progression-free survival (LPFS), and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS). Multivariate Cox analysis revealed that post-treatment CALLY values were significantly associated with OS, LPFS, and DMFS. Patients with lower post-treatment CALLY values exhibited poorer survival outcomes compared with those with higher CALLY values. These findings demonstrate that the post-treatment CALLY index could be a valuable tool for predicting prognosis and guiding subsequent treatment strategies in patients with LA-NSCLC undergoing thoracic RT. Further prospective studies are warranted to validate these results and to explore the potential of incorporating the CALLY index into clinical decision-making.
Yin et al. (2026) studied this question.