Acknowledgements

This work was carried out at the Department of Surgery, Oulu University Hospital, in co-operation with the Department of Biochemistry, University of Oulu, Biocenter Oulu, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, Department of Pathology, Oulu University Hospital, and Department of Anatomy, University of Oulu, during the years 1994–1999.

I wish to express my gratitude to my supervisor professor Olavi Lukkarinen, M.D., Ph.D., for his endless encouragement and faith in this project during these years, and professor emeritus Matti Kairaluoma, M.D., Ph.D., former head of the Department of Surgery in the Oulu University Hospital, for providing good conditions for me to concentrate on this research between epidoses of busy hospital work.

I owe my warmest thanks to Pirkko Kortteinen (Heikkilä), M.Sc., Ph.D., and professor Karl Tryggvason, M.D., Ph.D., head of the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics in Karolinska Institutet, who introduced me to the world of biochemistry and the fascinating microworld of genes and their function behind diseases. Without their collaboration, this work would not have been possible.

I am greatly indebted to Annikki Liakka, M.D., Ph.D., for her guidance in splenic histology and function and Paavo Pääkkö, M.D, Ph.D., for sharing his knowledge of lung histology. I also thank Markus Mäkinen, M.D., Ph.D., and Pekka Ruuska, M.D., Ph.D., for their assistance in kidney histology and immunology, respectively.

I would also like to thank Jorma Pudas, Veikko Lähteenmäki and Seija Seljänperä for their expert technical assistance in the laborious and demanding animal experiments as well as the whole staff in the laboratory of the animal centre of the University of Oulu. I also thank Tuula Karppinen, Maire Jarva, Sirpa Kellokumpu and Mirja Vahera for their assistance in preparing the gene transfer vectors and the histologic samples. Mrs Tuire Salonurmi, M.Sc. deserves my special thanks for helping me in immunohistochemistry and Mrs Kristiina Kainulainen, M.Sc., clinical chemist, and Mrs Oili Hietala, M.Sc. for collaboration in the retroviral experiments. I want to express my gratitude to Mrs Liisa Kärki and the staff of the photography laboratory for their help with the photographs.

I wish to express my thanks to docent Mikko Hippeläinen, Department of Surgery, Kuopio University Hospital, and docent Matti Vapalahti, Department of Neurosurgery, Kuopio University Hospital, for their valuable comments and criticism of the manuscript.

I am grateful to Mrs Anja Karstinen and Ritva Huhtala for their help in providing me undisturbed conditions for writing the manuscript. I thank Mrs Sirkka-Liisa Leinonen for her revision of the language of the manuscript. I wish to thank the whole staff in the Urological Unit of the Oulu University Hospital for the encouraging and supporting atmosphere, which has been invaluable for me during these years.

Finally, I am grateful to my parents Lea and Reijo Parpala and my parents-in-law Salli and Raimo Spårman for their support and help in domestic affairs. My most sincere thanks go to my beloved husband Kari, who has never complained about the time I have been excused from the daily routines. I am indebted to this man of my life for his endless love and invaluable encouragement along with his own busy work in business during this project. Without him and our small children Santeri and Sonja this work would not have been worth the trouble.

This research has been supported in part by grants provided by the Sigrid Juselius Foundation, Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc., the Finnish Kidney Foundation, the Academy of Finland, the Oulu University Hospital, the Swedish Medical Research Council and the Hedlund´s Foundation.

Oulu, January 2000                                                             Teija Parpala-Spårman