The Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks The He

The Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks

The He. La Cell Line is the oldest immortal cell line in existence. He. La cells have a mutation that allows them to continue to divide and grow when all other cells would die off. The He. La Cell was used by Jonas Salk to develop the Polio vaccine and is currently the most used cell line in the world.

Where did these cells come from?

Henrietta Lacks The He. La cells, that now number in the hundreds of millions, all came from the cervix of one woman in Baltimore, Maryland in 1951.

Henrietta Lacks “Henrietta Lacks” was born Loretta Pleasant on August 1, 1920 in Roanoke, Virginia. Her parents were tobacco farmers and when her mother died giving birth to her tenth child in 1924 Henrietta was sent to live with relatives in a home that had been slave’s quarters on an old plantation near Clover, Virginia.

Henrietta Lacks Henrietta married her first cousin David “Day” Lacks (1915 -2002) in 1936. She gave birth to the first of their five children when she was 14 years old. In 1941 Day took a job at a steel mill outside of Baltimore, Maryland they moved the family.

Henrietta Lacks Four and a half months after giving birth to her fifth child Henrietta went to Johns Hopkins Hospital complaining of a “knot” inside her and bleeding. At that time Johns Hopkins was the only hospital near her that would treat black patients

Henrietta Lacks Her “lump” was discovered to be a malignant epidermal carcinoma of the cervix. She was treated with radium tube inserts that were sewn in place and she received follow-up radiation treatment.

Dr. George Otto Gey During Henrietta’s treatment two tissue samples were surgically removed from her cervical tumor without her consent. The cancerous cells were given to Dr. George Otto Gey Dr. Gey noticed her cells did something never seen before. . . they stayed alive in a petrie dish and continued to grow.

Henrietta’s Death Henrietta’s condition worsened. She had neurosyphilis, gonorrhea and human papilloma virus. Her cancer had metastisized throughout her body Henrietta Lacks died on October 4, 1951 at 12: 30 am at the age of 31. She was buried without a tombstone. The exact location of her burial is not known.

He. La Cells Henrietta’s cells have gone on to be known as the He. La cell line. Her cells were used by Jonas Salk to develop the Polio vaccine. Her cells have been mailed around the globe for research into cancer, AIDS, gene mapping, the effects of radiation, and human cell reaction to various products. There are currently more than 11, 000 patents involving her cells. Scientists have grown over 20 tons of her cells. Henrietta Lacks never weighed more than 120 lbs in life.

The Lacks Family It was not until the 1970 s that the Lacks family learned was had happened to Henrietta’s cells. Researchers tracked the Lacks family down to try and find out if there was something special about their DNA that created these “immortal cells”.

Today a marker has been erected near Henrietta Lacks’ final resting place.

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