Li X, Guo D, Chu L, et al. - Researchers investigated the value of combining the neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet–lymphocyte ratio (PLR) or lymphocyte–monocyte ratio (LMR) with carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) for diagnosis in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, they evaluated the diagnostic performance of inflammatory makers and CEA in cohort 1 (664 patients with CRC, 336 patients with colorectal polyps and 664 healthy controls) and validated this in cohort 2 (87 patients with CRC and 87 healthy controls). In cohort 1, patients with CRC had significantly higher NLR, PLR, and CEA levels, while markedly lower LMR than healthy controls. They observed a significant association of PLR and LMR with invasion depth and lymph node metastasis. Moreover, they identified significant differences in the PLR and LMR between patients with stage I/II CRC and healthy or polyp controls and those with stage III/IV CRC. A significantly larger area under the curve was produced using the NLR, PLR or LMR with CEA than using any of them alone. These findings suggest that the diagnostic efficacy for CRC patients may improve via combining inflammatory cell ratios with CEA and suggest a possible value of the combination of the PLR and LMR with CEA as an indicator in the early detection and monitoring of CRC patients.