Henrietta Lacks

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Henrietta Lacks (1920–1951)
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Henrietta Lacks (1920–1951)

Henrietta Lacks (August 18, 1920 – October 4, 1951) was the involuntary donor of cells from her cancerous tumor, which were cultured by George Otto Gey to create an immortal cell line for medical research. This is now known as the HeLa cell line.

Contents

[edit] Early life

She was born as Henrietta Pleasant on August 18, 1920 in Roanoke, Virginia to Eliza (1886-1924) [1] and John Randall Pleasant I (1881-1969) [2]. Eliza and John had married in 1906, and Henrietta's siblings included: Edith (1905-?); Edna (1906-?); John Randall II (1909-?); Charles (1912-1955); Viola (1914-?); Alleys (1916-?); Lawrence (1918-?); Gladys (c1918-?); Henry (1922-?); Felicia (1923-?); and Georgia (1929-?). Eliza died giving birth to her tenth child in 1924, and in 1929, a 48 year old John married a 13 year old girl named Lillian. John worked as a brakeman on the railroad and they lived on 12th Street Southwest.

[edit] Later Life

In 1943 Henrietta moved to the Turners Station neighborhood of Dundalk, Maryland, the youngest and the largest of the historically African American communities in Baltimore County. She married David Lacks I (1915-2002) and they had five children: Deborah Lacks (1948- ) who married a Pullum; David Lacks II, Lawrence Lacks, Zakariyya Lacks, and another daughter. David worked at the Sparrow's Point shipyards and they lived on New Pittsburgh Avenue in Baltimore. On February 1, 1951, Henrietta went to Johns Hopkins Hospital because of a vaginal discharge, and was diagnosed with cervical cancer. She died on October 4, 1951 at the age of thirty-one, and was buried without a tombstone in a family cemetery in Lackstown or Clover in Halifax County, Virginia. Her mother has the only tombstone of the five graves there. Lackstown is the land that has been held by the Lacks' family since they received it from their slave owners whose family's name was at first "Lax", and then changed to "Lacks".

[edit] HeLa

The HeLa cells were cultured while she was receiving treatment for cervical cancer. Most accounts agree that neither she nor her husband were asked about the cultivation of her cells, or their future use. According to an interview quoted in Johns Hopkins Magazine, her husband was consulted after her death and told that a sample of the cells could be studied with the goal of possibly isolating genetic factors and preventing cancer deaths in future generations. He was not told about the scope of research and the family did not learn of it until twenty-five years later. Today, HeLa cells are still commonly used in research laboratories as a model for human cells.

There was then as now, no necessity to inform a patient, or their relatives, about such matters because discarded material, or material obtained during surgery, diagnosis or therapy was the property of the physician and/or medical institution. This problem and Ms. Lacks' situation was brought up in the Supreme Court of California case of John Moore v. the Regents of the University of California. The court ruled that a person's discarded tissue and cells are not their property and can be commercialized.

The HeLa cell line has been used in thousands of biological experiments, contributing greatly to the understanding of disease processes. HeLa was important in Jonas Salk's development of the vaccine for polio. The cells allowed Salk to produce the virus in a laboratory. There is controversy, however, concerning the use of her cells without her permission, particularly since she was an African-American woman, a historically disempowered group in the United States (especially during the 1950s). The word "HeLa" was devised by Gey by using the first two letters of Mrs. Lacks' first and last names to keep her real name a secret. This worked for a while and some thought that the human source of HeLa was "Harriet Lane", "Helen Lane", and others.

Her name was finally released, although it is not clear who released it. Her picture with her name under it appeared in a journal article in 1971. Her family members said that none of them had given anyone the picture. The 1971 article reported that she had been misdiagnosed. She had adenocarcinoma, and not the slower moving epidermoid carcinoma. In 1976, the twenty fifth anniversary of the birth of HeLa, and the one hundredth anniversary of the Johns Hopkins University, another article was published which suggested that this misdiagnosis was related to the adverse outcome or death of Lacks. Incidentally Lacks had had her last child at Johns Hopkins Hospital in November of 1950. Further research on the family and a genetic mapping of them based on this research reported in this 1976 article has generated another controversy.

[edit] Legacy

HeLa has been recognized as a contributor to medical research and public health. Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia recognized Henrietta Lacks, or her family for HeLa's contributions and for their and her sacrifices. In 1997, following Morehouse's lead, and contact with those making a film on HeLa and Lacks, Turners Station, which is the African American community of industrial workers and their families where the Lacks resided on February 1, 1951, recognized her and her family, and have done so annually ever since. The Dundalk Eagle published the first article on her in a newspaper in Baltimore City and Baltimore County, as well as announcements of upcoming local commemorative activities. Robert Ehrlich, placed a resolution recognizing her in the Congressional Record on July 4, 1997.

[edit] Helacyton gartleri

One biologist, Leigh Van Valen, has written that Lacks' cancer cells have evolved into a self-replicating, single-cell life-form and has proposed HeLa cells be given the new species name of Helacyton gartleri. The cells are a genetic chimera of human papillomavirus 18 (HPV18) and human cervical cells and now have a distinct, stable, non-human chromosome number. His 1991 suggestion has not been followed, nor, indeed, been widely noted. With near unanimity, evolutionary scientists and biologists hold that a chimeric human cell line is not a distinct species, and that tumorigenesis is not an evolutionary process. However, at least two transformed mammalian cell lines cause communicable diseases: Devil facial tumour disease and Canine transmissible venereal tumor.

[edit] Notes

  • ↑  Eliza was born on July 12, 1886 and she died on October 28, 1924.
  • ↑  John Randall Pleasant I was born on March 2, 1881 and he died in January of 1969 in Saxe, Charlotte County, Virginia.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  • Modern Times: The Way of the Flesh; 1997 BBC documentary on Henrietta Lacks, directed by Adam Curtis
  • Leigh Van Valen and Virginia C. Maiorana (1991): HeLa, a new microbial species. Evolutionary Theory 10:71-74
  • Michael Gold, The Conspiracy of Cells, 1986
  • Rebecca Skloot, HeLa: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
  • Hannah Landecker (2000) Immortality, In Vitro. A History of the HeLa Cell Line. In: Brodwin, Paul E., ed.: Biotechnology and Culture. Bodies, Anxieties, Ethics. Bloomington/Indianapolis, 53-72, ISBN 0-253-21428-9
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