Synovial sarcoma is a rare, highly malignant soft-tissue tumor that occurs primarily in the extremities. At present, there is no effective clinical treatment for this condition. The present study reports the case of a 49-year-old male who was diagnosed with pleural synovial sarcoma and treated with recombinant human endostatin (Endostar) combined with chemotherapy for a total of six cycles, followed by sunitinib maintenance therapy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported use of sunitinib for maintenance therapy in pleural synovial sarcoma. The patient survived for 25 months after the recurrence of the disease following surgery. The results indicate that this combination therapy was effective in the treatment of pleural synovial sarcoma. The present study also briefly reviews the literature on pleural synovial sarcoma, and the features and treatments for this rare case are discussed.

Non-small-lung cancer (NSCLC) is a common malignant tumor and is a leading cause of cancer mortality. Tumor stem cells are associated with tumor pathogenesis and development as well as invastion and metastasis. In the present study, the expression and correlation of tumor stem cell markers, octamer-binding transcription factor 4 (Oct-4) and E-cadherin (E-cad) in NSCLC and normal lung tissue were investigated. Additionally, the molecular mechanisms of invasion and metastasis of NSCLC were assessed. The expression of Oct-4 and E-cad was examined in 65 pathologically diagnosed cases of NSCLC using immunohistochemistry. The correlation between Oct-4 and E-cad, as well as the association with pathological grade and clinical staging were also analyzed. Fifteen cases of normal lung tissues served as the control. The positive expression of Oct-4 and abnormal expression of E-cad was higher in the NSCLC tissue compared to the normal lung tissue, and increased as NSCLC malignancy increased. The differences in each grade each stage were statistically significant (P<0.05). A correlation was identified between the abnormal expression of Oct-4 and E-cad (P<0.05, coefficient of contingency C=0.439). In conclusion, the expression of Oct-4 promoted the epithelial-mesenchymal transition in lung cancer.