“Although Henrietta Lacks died of cancer in 1951, little bits of her are alive everywhere. She is the originator of the first immortal cell line, HeLa cells. These are cancer cells scraped from her cervix, and they grew so well that they proved ideal for study in laboratories all over the world. Unfortunately, they grew so well in culture that they invaded other cell lines and ruined countless experiments. It became such a problem that in 1968, the premier standard-bearer of cell lines in the world, the American Type Culture Collection, tested all thirty-four of its “pure” cell lines and found that twenty-four of them were HeLa cells instead.” Animal Sciences
Name: Henrietta Lacks
Birth Date: August 1, 1920 – October 4, 1951
Job Functions: Tobacco farmer
Known For: Without her consent, cancer cells were taken from her, which helped with scientific research (polio vaccine, HIV, cancer, in vitro fertilization, and launched a multibillion dollar biomedical industry.
Henrietta Lacks (1920 – 1951) contributed greatly to science, but not in the way that you would expect. An impoverished black woman, Lacks was feeling a lot of pain in her womb, and she also discovered a large lump in her body, in 1951, so she went to John Hopkins hospital in Baltimore, which offered free healthcare to the poor. Dr. Howard Jones, a gynecologist, discovered a purple cancerous tumor on her cervix.
During her treatment, a surgeon, Dr. George Gey, took both cancerous and non-cancerous cells from Lacks’ body without her consent, which was a common practice at the time. The type of cancer she had spread very quickly and was very virulent. Lacks responded to radiation treatment for her cervical cancer and was thought to be free of her cancer, however, shortly after, another tumor appeared on her pelvic wall, and although she received treatment, the cancer metastasized and spread throughout her body. She died a few months later.
Dr. George Gey was seeking ways to grow human cells for cancer research. Medical researchers grow human cells so they can study them to gain insights into how they work, test medical theories and develop treatment for diseases. To date, Gey, his wife, and his assistant, Mary Kubicek, were unsuccessful in growing human cells outside the body, but things turned around when they used the cells taken from Henrietta Lacks. Her cancer cells started to divide on their own, so during Lacks’ autopsy, once again, without consent from her family, more tissue samples were taken from her body.
Because the HeLa (Henrietta Lacks) cells reproduced indefinitely, they were referred to as the “immortal cell” line, and were the first to be used in medical research, and is still being used today, six decades later.
How Henrietta Lacks Contributed to Medical Research
Gey sent cell tissues to many of his colleagues to test and they in turn grew the cells themselves and demand for the HeLa cells grew. Medical scientists all over the world experimented with the HeLa cells in many different way. The demand for the HeLa cells launched a multibillion dollar biomedical industry. The HeLa cells were the first biological materials ever bought and sold.
The HeLa cell line was:
- Used to test the polio vaccine in 1954.
- Sent on a space mission to measure the effects of zero gravity on humans.
- Used for cancer and AIDS research, effects of radiation, gene mapping, cloning, and in vitro fertilization.
- Used to develop drugs for hemophilia, herpes, influenza, leukemia and Parkinson’s disease.
Key Issues
- Companies made millions selling the HeLa cell lines, yet the Lacks family did not reap any financial rewards, and they still live in poverty. In fact, one media account says that one of Lacks’ family member was homeless.
- No consent was ever given for doctors to take the cell tissues.
The Ethics
- Although many have benefited from the medical research conducted using Henrietta Lacks’ cell tissue, and it was common practice at the time to take samples from patients without permission, does that make the practice acceptable?
- Should the family benefit from the financial windfall that companies experienced using Lacks’ cells?
The reason we know so much about Henrietta Lacks is attributed to Rebecca Skloot who wrote the bestselling book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. At age 16, while taking a basic biology course in community college, the teacher mentioned the name Henrietta Lacks with not much information about the woman – that was an aha moment for Skloot. A decade later, Skoot embarked on a 10-year project to uncover the mystery surrounding Henrietta Lacks resulting in her book. The major lesson is if something piques your interest, take sometime to explore to determine if it merits your curiosity.
Should the Lacks family be compensated for the use of Henrietta Lacks’ cell tissue? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don't you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.
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Sources Cited/Referenced
Encyclopedia of World Biography
Gale Biography in Context
Henrietta Lacks’ ‘Immortal Cells,’ The Smithsonian
States News Service, “The Importance of Curiosity,” January 30, 2012
States News Service, “Ethics and the Cells That Changed Medicine,” October 6, 2011
The New Yorker, ‘The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks,’ February 15, 2010
Quigley, Ian. “Cancer.” Animal Sciences. Ed. Allan B. Cobb. Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2002. 122-126. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 8 Feb. 2012.