Henrietta Lacks

Henrietta Lacks

1920-1951

When I was an undergraduate at UC Irvine, the first human cells I ever saw under a microscope were HeLa cells.  I learned that HeLa cells were from a woman named Helen Lane and that there were more living HeLa cells than there had been in Helen’s body.  While the latter is true, the former fact is incorrect.  HeLa cells came from an African American woman named Henrietta Lacks.  Her story has finally been told in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, the best-selling non-fiction book of 2010.

Henrietta Lacks was a poor, uneducated tobacco farmer from rural Virginia.  She had five children: three boys and two girls.  In 1951 at the age of 31, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer.  Doctors at Johns Hopkins took a sample of her cancerous tumor without her knowledge or consent, a common and legal practice at that time.  She was treated with radiation but the cancer spread quickly throughout her body.  She died in terrible pain a few months after the sample was taken. Her body was buried in the family graveyard in an unmarked grave near her mother.

The tumor sample was passed on to a scientist who had tried to grow human cells outside the human body for years.  It had been done with mice cells but never with human cells.  Most human cells died soon after harvesting.  But Henrietta’s cells did grow.  And grow.  They were robust and easy to culture.  They could be frozen for storage and were as good as new when thawed out.  They even travelled well.  Soon, they were being distributed around the planet to any scientist who asked for them.  They were given the name HeLa to disguise the original donor.  Henrietta’s family was never told that Henrietta’s cells were still alive.

By the 60’s, HeLa cells were produced commercially and the cell culture business grew into a multi-billion dollar industry.  Commercially available cells made it possible to reproduce scientific results in any laboratory in the world, making HeLa the cell of choice for most biology labs.  HeLa’s contribution to medical science has been extraordinary.  They were used in the development of the polio vaccine.  They were the first cells to go into space.  They were the first human cells to be cloned.  They were used to map several genes.  Today, they continue to play a major role in science.  Reputations and fortunes have been made thanks to HeLa cells.

In the 70’s, the Lacks family finally learned that Henrietta’s cells were still alive.  Unfortunately, their lack of education and understanding resulted in confusion and panic as various scientists, reporters, and a con-man came and went, taking what they wanted and leaving nothing.  No one took the time to explain to the Lacks’ what it all meant.  They did understand that people were making millions of dollars from their mother’s cells while they hadn’t seen a dime.  By the time Ms. Skloot appeared at their doors in the late 90’s, they were in no mood to talk.  Somehow, she gained their confidence and unearthed this complex story of death and immortality, poverty and riches, ignorance and scientific discovery.  In addition to telling Henrietta’s and HeLa’s stories, the book takes an unflinching look at race relations in America and at the history of informed consent.   Thanks to Ms. Skloot's book, a number of things have happened.  A foundation was set up by Ms. Skloot to provide Henrietta’s grand-children and great-grand-children with funds for college and other needs.  HBO is producing a film project based on the book with Oprah Winfrey and Allen Ball.  Henrietta's grave finally got a grave stone on May 29th, 2010.  The tombstone reads:

Henrietta Lacks, August 01, 1920-October 04, 1951.  

In loving memory of a phenomenal woman, wife and mother who touched the lives of many. 

Here lies Henrietta Lacks (HeLa).  Her immortal cells will continue to help mankind forever.

Eternal Love and Admiration, From Your Family 

Meantime, Rebecca Skloot has won many awards and has made numerous TV appearances including this one on the Colbert Report March 16, 2010.

Question of the Day: If we could gather up all the HeLa cells in the world, how many metric tons would they weigh?