Objective To evaluate the prognostic value of platelet-lymphocyte ratio(PLR) in the patients with hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC).

Methods The original articles which were published in PubMed, Embase and Web of Science databases until Dec 31th, 2016 were the primary source of the current research. Studies which met with the proposed inclusion and exclusion criteria would be selected into the meta-analysis to evaluate the prognostic value of PLR in HCC. STATA 12.0 was used for data analysis and consolidation. Heterogeneity was tested and evaluated by Cochran's Q statistic method and the effective models were chosen in order to combine the corresponding effect measures. Meta-analysis was performed by HR/OR and their 95%CI as effect measure.

Results A total of 1215 patients from six studies were included to evaluate the association between PLR and clinical outcome of HCC patients. High PLR indicated poor OS significantly (HR=1.55, 95%CI: 1.06-2.29, P=0.025), but had no impact on DFS(P=0.222).

Conclusion PLR is an independently prognostic biomarker for the long-term outcome of HCC patients. Detection of PLR before treatment may contribute to predict the prognosis of HCC patients.