Transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells in a laryngeal carcinoma patient with radiation myelitis

Intramedullary spinal tumor-like lesions

The development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has led to an increasingly frequent detection of changes in the spinal cord. The most common intramedullary lesions are: demyelinating; vascular; inflammatory; infectious; and congenital, largely called tumor-like lesions. Spinal cord tumors are relatively rare, as compared with brain tumors. The hardest task is to conclude whether the spinal cord lesion is a tumor or a tumor-like lesion. This review is intended to help evaluate the spinal cord and gives an overview of the tumor-like lesions occurring in the spinal cord along with their characteristic.

Intraosseous Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor of 2 Consecutive Lumbar Vertebrae: A Case Report and Literature Review

BACKGROUND

Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST), which refers to any malignant tumor that originates from peripheral nerve sheath cells, is rarely found in the spine. Primary intraosseous spinal MPNSTs are extremely uncommon; in fact, such an occurrence has been reported in a very limited number of cases hitherto. We report here one case of low-grade intraosseous MPNST in the lumbar vertebrae and review clinical research related to this rare tumor and modus operandi to its treatment.

CASE DESCRIPTION

A 51-year-old man suffering from lower back pain was initially diagnosed with lumbar tuberculosis. The intraoperative histopathologic examination, however, revealed that the occupying lesion was synovial sarcoma when surgeons intended to perform a debridement surgery of what was thought to be tuberculosis. The operation was therefore suspended. Two months later, the patient was referred to our institution. The pathologic sections were reexamined. Its results refuted the earlier thought of being synovial sarcoma, and a final diagnosis of MPNST was made. In addition, preoperative examination revealed that the tumor had advanced rapidly to the adjacent inferior vena cava and pedicle, which ruled out the possibility of performing a total en bloc spondylectomy. Therefore, a marginal resection for 2-level consecutive lumbar vertebrae was performed successfully via an anterior-posterior combined approach. No serious complications were detected at 18-month follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS

Preoperative biopsy is of great importance for the diagnosis of spinal tumors. Marginal resection of a complicated intraosseous spine MPNST via an anterior-posterior combined approach, despite being technically challenging, resulted in good survival and functional outcomes.

Umbilical cord mesenchymal stromal cell transplantations: A systemic analysis of clinical trials

The advances and success of umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (UC-MSCs) in experimental disease animal models have fueled the development of targeted therapies in humans. The therapeutic potential of allogeneic transplantation of UC-MSCs has been under examination since 2009. The purpose of this systematic analysis was to review the published results, limitations and obstacles for UC-MSC transplantation. An extensive search strategy was applied to the published literature, 93 peer-reviewed full-text articles and abstracts were found published by early August 2017 that investigated the safety, efficacy and feasibility of UC-MSCs in 2001 patients with 53 distinct pathologies including many systemic/local, acute/chronic conditions. Few data were extracted from the abstracts and/or Chinese-written articles (n = 7, 8%). Importantly, no long-term adverse effects, tumor formation or cell rejection were reported. All studies noted certain degrees of therapeutic benefit as evidenced by clinical symptoms and/or laboratory findings. Thirty-seven percent (n = 34) of studies were found published as a single case (n = 10; 11%) or 2-10 case reports (n = 24; 26%) with no control group. Due to the nature of many stem cell-based studies, the majority of patients also received conventional therapy regimens, which obscured the pure efficacy of the cells transplanted. Randomized, blind, phase 1/2 trials with control groups (placebo-controlled) showed more plausible results. Given that most UC-MSC trials are early phase, the internationally recognized cell isolation and preparation standards should be extended to future phase 2/3 trials to reach more convincing conclusions regarding the safety and efficacy of UC-MSC therapies.

Stem Cells Applications in Regenerative Medicine and Disease Therapeutics

Regenerative medicine, the most recent and emerging branch of medical science, deals with functional restoration of tissues or organs for the patient suffering from severe injuries or chronic disease. The spectacular progress in the field of stem cell research has laid the foundation for cell based therapies of disease which cannot be cured by conventional medicines. The indefinite self-renewal and potential to differentiate into other types of cells represent stem cells as frontiers of regenerative medicine. The transdifferentiating potential of stem cells varies with source and according to that regenerative applications also change. Advancements in gene editing and tissue engineering technology have endorsed the ex vivo remodelling of stem cells grown into 3D organoids and tissue structures for personalized applications. This review outlines the most recent advancement in transplantation and tissue engineering technologies of ESCs, TSPSCs, MSCs, UCSCs, BMSCs, and iPSCs in regenerative medicine. Additionally, this review also discusses stem cells regenerative application in wildlife conservation.