Henrietta Lacks - The Woman Who Unknowingly Changed Medical Research

This is the second post in the mini series for Women's History Month. This post is about a woman who changed medical research without ever knowing of her contribution, Henrietta Lacks. If you have never heard of Henrietta Lacks, her story is one of great inspiration.

Henrietta Lacks was an African American woman who was the progenitor (person from which a descended originates) of the HeLa cell line, one of the most important cell lines in the medical research ever discovered. Ms. Lacks cell was used extensively in medical research since the 1950s.

Henrietta Lacks was born in 1920 and died in 1951 at the age of 31 from cervical cancer. Cells were taken from her body without her knowledge and used to form the HeLa cell line. The removal of her cells has sparked legal and ethical debates over an individual's rights to his or her genetic material and tissue.

The two cervical tissue samples were removed from Henrietta after she went to John Hopkins Hospital because of abnormal pain and bleeding in her abdomen. She was quickly diagnosed with cervical cancer and the cells were removed during her radiation treatments.

The cells were sent to researcher Dr. George Otto Gey. Dr. Gey noticed something unusual about Henrietta's cells. They were durable and lasted more than a few days. Dr .Gey isolated and multiplied a specific cell creating the HeLa line which was named for Henrietta Lacks.

The HeLa strain revolutionized medical research. Jonas Salk used them to develop the polio vaccine. This sparked mass interest and in 1955, scientist clones the cells. Over ten thousand patents involving HeLa cells have been registered.

In 2010, John Hopkins released the following statement:

"Johns Hopkins Medicine sincerely acknowledges the contribution to advances in biomedical research made possible by Henrietta Lacks and HeLa cells. It’s important to note that at the time the cells were taken from Mrs. Lacks’ tissue, the practice of obtaining informed consent from cell or tissue donors was essentially unknown among academic medical centers. Sixty years ago, there was no established practice of seeking permission to take tissue for scientific research purposes. The laboratory that received Mrs. Lacks’s cells had arranged many years earlier to obtain such cells from any patient diagnosed with cervical cancer as a way to learn more about a serious disease that took the lives of so many. Johns Hopkins never patented HeLa cells, nor did it sell them commercially or benefit in a direct financial way. Today, Johns Hopkins and other research-based medical centers consistently obtain consent from those asked to donate tissue or cells for scientific research."

Henrietta's family learned about the HeLa cells in 1970. Their request to learn more about the use of the cells were ignored until 1998 when the BBC screened a documentary on the subject. You may want to read the book on Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks".

The Lacks family have been honored at the Smithsonian Institution and the National Foundation for Center Research. Morgan State University granted Henrietta Lacks a posthumous honorary degree.

The Lacks family still have not received any monetary recognition, but did win a small battle in 1990 when the California Supreme Court upheld the right to commercialize discarded tissue in the Moore vs Regents of the University of California.

In 2013 an agreement between the family and the National Institutes of Health granted acknowledgement in scientific papers.

I hope you have enjoyed this edition of inspirational women. I would urge you to read the book to learn more. Please like and share. Remember to subscribe to receive biweekly posts on social issues and inspirational women.

Until next time, stand up and be heard!