This method enables us to transfect targeted cells, ie, cells in suspension as well as attached cells, with a simple technique that does not involve harmful vectors. The present method is very useful for gene transfection in cellular biotechnology.

No abstract

Familial hypercholesterolemia is a rare inherited disease with an incidence of approximately one per million. Severe hypercholesterolemia is observed from the time of birth onwards. It is associated with severe atherosclerosis in childhood, leading to death from myocardial infarction before the age of 20 years. Liver transplantation is the only effective treatment for this disease. We experienced the case of an infant aged 2 years 5 months who had homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia and who received a liver graft from his father, who had familial heterozygous hypercholesterolemia. The pre-operative plasma cholesterol level was > 800 mg/dl. After liver transplantation, the recipient's cholesterol level decreased to 250 mg/dl after we administered the HMC-CoA reductase inhibitor. At present, 6 months after transplantation, the patient is doing well and free from a special diet. We can thus conclude that the combination therapy of liver transplantation from a donor with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia on cholesterol-lowering drugs is an effective therapy for a patient with the homozygous type of hypercholesterolemia.

All cancer patients, particularly those treated for colorectal cancer, should be monitored for the presence of liver metastases, but liver metastases from ovarian clear cell carcinoma are quite rare. We report a patient subjected to extended left hepatectomy due to a giant metastasis 5 years after surgical treatment for an ovarian neoplasm that was histopathologically diagnosed as clear cell carcinoma. A 58-year-old woman had undergone hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy due to ovarian cancer (stage Ic). Four years and 8 months after the operation, a computed tomography (CT) scan demonstrated a giant tumor in the left lobe of the liver. The tumor compressed the inferior vena cava (IVC), but it was not clear whether it invaded the vessel. She received chemotherapy for 4 months; however, the tumor did not decrease in size. She was subsequently referred to our institution and was submitted to operation after it was confirmed that there were no distant metastases. After being subjected to an extended left hepatectomy and cholecystectomy, the patient recovered from the surgery without any complications. She has been carefully followed for 17 months and has presented no evidence of recurrence.

We retrospectively assessed the safety of the donor operation, based on parameters such as blood loss, blood transfusion, operation time, duration of hospitalization, and complications. Forty-five pediatric and adult recipients underwent living-donor liver transplantation (LDLTx) in Tohoku University Hospital from July 1991 to October 2000. Donor operations were classified into three groups. In the LS group, the graft was the lateral segment (n=20); in the LL group, the graft was the left lobe without the middle hepatic vein (n= 16); and in the LLM group, the graft was the left lobe with the middle hepatic vein (n = 9). No significant differences were observed among the three groups regarding postoperative liver function or duration of hospitalization. In the LS group, the operation time was shorter and the requirement of autologous blood transfusion was significantly lower than in the other two groups. Most complications following retrieval of the graft were minor. Safety is guaranteed when the left lobe or the left lateral segment is used for LDLTx, but meticulous management of the operation is required to prevent complications.