11 February 2011

The Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks

 

Henrietta Lacks and her husband, David Lacks, pose side by side in this formal portrait dated circa 1945. Mrs. Lacks died in 1951, but the remarkable afterlife of her cells would give rise to numerous medical advances. Those cells are still used today in laboratories throughout the world.

Henrietta Lacks and her husband, David Lacks, pose side by side in this formal portrait dated circa 1945.

By Lauren Monsen
Staff Writer

Washington — Through a quirk of fate, an unassuming African-American woman who died of cancer in 1951 became the source of a cell line that has been cultivated for 60 years in laboratories worldwide, contributing to cancer research and medical milestones such as the polio vaccine, cloning, genetic testing and in vitro fertilization.

Today, HeLa cells — named after their donor, Henrietta Lacks — “are the most commonly used cells in research labs all around the world; they’re used in every country where people do research on cells,” according to Rebecca Skloot, author of the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Skloot said Henrietta Lacks’ story is important not only because of the lives affected by the HeLa cell line, but also because it raises questions about economic justice and scientific ethics.

THE FIRST IMMORTAL HUMAN CELL LINE

Lacks was a tobacco farmer and the wife of a shipyard worker in Baltimore County, Maryland, when she was diagnosed with a malignant cervical tumor at age 30. During her treatment, doctors at Johns Hopkins University Hospital removed a sample of her cancerous cells for research. The cells were removed without her knowledge or consent, a common practice at the time. Lacks died in the “colored” ward of the hospital at age 31, leaving five children.

Her story didn’t end there. Using Lacks’ cells, which continued to multiply, researchers succeeded in establishing for the first time an “immortal” human cell line grown in laboratory culture (in previous experiments, human cells grown in culture would die after a certain period of time). “I’ve talked to countless scientists about HeLa, and none could explain why Henrietta’s cells grew so powerfully when others didn’t,” said Skloot.

It would be difficult to overestimate the cells’ critical role in ongoing research, she added.

“Since the ’50s, if researchers wanted to figure out how cells behaved in a certain environment, or reacted to a specific chemical, they’ve turned to HeLa cells,” Skloot said. The cell line grew faster and thus produced results faster; “it’s hardy, it’s inexpensive, and it’s everywhere.” HeLa cells have helped scientists understand cellular function and human genetics, and develop treatments for many diseases.

Neither the doctors who retrieved the cells nor scientist George Gey, who created the cell line from Lacks’ tissue sample, sought or received financial gain. Lacks’ descendants have not been compensated. The HeLa cells, however, have been enormously profitable for pharmaceutical and research firms.

Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, spent years piecing together the story of a woman whose cells have transformed modern medicine.

In her book, Skloot planned to focus on the HeLa cells and the woman behind them, but she quickly realized she also had to explore “the impact those cells had on her family.” Lacks’ family first learned about the cells in the 1970s. The medical establishment failed to address many of the family’s questions, and only when Skloot began digging for answers did the full story emerge.

The cells Lacks unknowingly donated “helped launch a multibillion-dollar industry, yet her family had no money,” said Skloot.

Part of the book’s proceeds go to the Henrietta Lacks Foundation, established by Skloot, which assists with education and medical expenses for Lacks’ descendants. Lacks family members will be paid consultants when a film is made by Oprah Winfrey based on the book.

SCIENCE AND THE HELA CELL LINE

According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, there are some 11,000 patents involving HeLa. Scientific and medical researchers are continually adding more HeLa-related studies to the 60,000 studies that already exist.

Lacks’ story raises questions about ethical guidelines for tissue donation and research that are still unresolved, said Skloot.

“Most people have tissues on file somewhere,” although today, donors’ identities are stripped from tissue samples, she said.

“Although we don’t realize it, a lot of us have signed consent forms,” she said. “When you go in for a biopsy, it says, ‘You can dispose of my tissues any way you see fit or use them in research.’ People don’t realize what that means or that it could become commercialized.”

“Should people have a right to control what’s done with their tissues once they’re removed from their bodies? And who, if anyone, should profit from those tissues?” asked Skloot. There is “no standard practice when it comes to consent” about tissue disposal. “This is true pretty much worldwide, not just in the U.S.”

Skloot’s book is being translated into more than 25 languages.

The Lacks family “is filled with pride about all that Henrietta’s cells have done for science,” she said. “In life, Henrietta was this woman who just took care of everybody; she lived to do that. And so to the family, it makes perfect sense that she’s doing that in death, too.”

See also: Black History Month Honors Legacy of Struggle and Triumph

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)