An Atypical Presentation of Soft Tissue Metastasis in a Patient With Lung Cancer.

Soft tissue metastasis in patients with lung cancer is infrequently reported in the literature. Primary lung carcinomas have been shown to exhibit evidence of metastasis to soft tissue in 2.3% of cases. A 75-year-old Caucasian female presented with clinical signs of anemia and the appearance of several soft tissue masses on her back. The patient was a former smoker with a 20-pack-year history. Further workup revealed a diagnosis of adenocarcinoma of the lung with soft tissue metastasis. Recognizing the early signs of metastasis is crucial to providing the patient the best treatment available, and the importance of a thorough physical examination cannot be emphasized enough.

Transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells that overexpress NT-3 produce motor improvements without axonal regeneration following complete spinal cord transections in rats.

Transplanting stem cells engineered to overexpress trophic factors can improve motor abilities and facilitate axon regeneration following spinal cord injury. This study compared several transplantation paradigms using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that overexpress the multi-neurotrophin, NT-3/D15A (NT-3-MSCs), to determine if different grafting strategies can elicit improved axon regeneration and/or behavioral outcomes following a complete T9 spinal transection. At one week post-transection, NT-3-MSCs were transplanted above, and at several locations below, the lesion site. A rostral-to-caudal gradient of NT-3-MSCs was produced by incrementally increasing the number of transplanted cells at locations distal to the transection. Motor function was analyzed using the Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan scale for 7-weeks post-injury. The corticospinal tract was traced using biotinylated dextran amines, while raphespinal fibers were visualized using immunohistochemistry. Cell viability was assessed using transplants of NT-3-MSCs that express tdTomato. Retrograde tracing using fluorogold, as well as spinal re-transections, were performed to discriminate between a supra-spinal or reflexive influence of regained motor functions. NT-3-MSC transplants improved motor outcomes and tissue continuity at the transection site, however retrograde tracing using fluorogold revealed no evidence of axon regeneration. A spinal re-transection also failed to eliminate the improvement in motor outcomes produced by the transplant. We conclude that transplantation of NT-3-MSCs can improve motor function and morphological outcomes following a complete spinal transection without promoting axonal regeneration.

Co-transplantation of mesenchymal and neural stem cells and overexpressing stromal-derived factor-1 for treating spinal cord injury.

Genetic engineering of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and neuronal stem cells (NSCs) has been used to treat spinal cord injuries (SCI). As a mechanism of therapy, MSCs secrete high amounts of trophic factors, while NSCs can differentiate into neuronal lineages and aid in tissue replacement. Additionally, the forced overexpression of secreted proteins can enhance the secretome of transplanted cells, which can increase therapeutic efficacy. This study utilized a combinational treatment consisting of MSCs, NSCs, and the forced overexpression of the chemokine stromal-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) from MSCs (SDF-1-MSCs) as treatment in a rat model of SCI. Transplants occurred at 9-days post-injury, and motor functions were evaluated for 7-weeks post-injury. White matter sparing and axon densities surrounding the lesions were quantified. Findings from this study demonstrate that co-transplanting SDF-1-MSCs with NSCs improved motor functions and enhanced axon densities surrounding the lesion. However, no improvements in white matter sparing were found and tumors were found in some of the animals that received co-transplantations with either SDF-1-MSCs and NSCs or unmodified-MSCs and NSCs, but not in any animal treated with a single cell type. This study offers evidence that providing SDF-1 to NSCs, through the forced expression from MSCs, can enhance the therapeutic potential of the graft, but developing a safe means of doing this requires further work.