Immunity
Monocyte / Lymphocyte Ratio (MLR)
What This Marker Tells Us
Compares monocytes, which mediate chronic inflammation and tissue remodeling, to lymphocytes, revealing balance between inflammatory macrophage activity and adaptive immune function.
Why It Matters
Predicts cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and cancer outcomes by capturing chronic inflammatory burden. Monocytes infiltrate tissues, becoming macrophages that drive atherosclerosis, insulin resistance, and tumor progression. Elevated MLR indicates excess monocyte-driven inflammation overwhelming lymphocyte-mediated regulation. This pattern appears in cardiovascular disease, diabetes, autoimmunity, and cancer. MLR provides unique information beyond NLR and PLR about macrophage-mediated inflammation.
How to Interpret Your Trends
Low MLR suggests minimal monocyte-driven inflammation with robust lymphocyte populations. Typical MLR (below 0.3) indicates balanced monocyte and lymphocyte function. Elevated MLR (0.3-0.5) suggests increased chronic inflammation and disease risk. High MLR (above 0.5) signals excessive monocyte-mediated inflammation dramatically increasing cardiovascular and metabolic disease risk.
What Influences This Marker
Obesity, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes chronically elevate monocytes, raising MLR. Chronic infections and autoimmune diseases increase monocyte populations. Aging gradually raises MLR. Anti-inflammatory diet, exercise, weight loss, and metabolic optimization normalize the ratio. Persistently elevated values warrant investigation for underlying chronic disease.
How Your Team Uses It
Your coach uses MLR to assess chronic inflammatory burden, particularly cardiovascular and metabolic inflammation. High ratios emphasize anti-inflammatory interventions, metabolic optimization, and cardiovascular risk reduction. It complements NLR and PLR for comprehensive inflammatory phenotyping, guiding personalized intervention strategies.
Related Signals We Also Review
Absolute monocytes, absolute lymphocytes, NLR, PLR, CRP, metabolic markers, and cardiovascular risk indicators complete the chronic inflammation assessment.