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HeLa (; also Hela or hela) is an
immortalized cell line An immortalised cell line is a population of cells from a multicellular organism which would normally not proliferate indefinitely but, due to mutation, have evaded normal cellular senescence and instead can keep undergoing division. The cells ...
used in scientific research. It is the oldest and most commonly used
human cell line Cell culture or tissue culture is the process by which cells are grown under controlled conditions, generally outside of their natural environment. The term "tissue culture" was coined by American pathologist Montrose Thomas Burrows. This te ...
. The line is derived from
cervical cancer Cervical cancer is a cancer arising from the cervix. It is due to the abnormal growth of cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. Early on, typically no symptoms are seen. Later symptoms may include abnormal ...
cells taken on February 8, 1951, named after
Henrietta Lacks Henrietta Lacks (born Loretta Pleasant; August 1, 1920 – October 4, 1951) Note: Some sources report her birthday as August 2, 1920, vs. August 1, 1920. was an African-American woman whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line ...
, a 31-year-old African-American mother of five, who died of cancer on October 4, 1951. The cell line was found to be remarkably durable and prolific, which allows it to be used extensively in scientific study. The cells from Lacks's cancerous cervical tumor were taken without her knowledge or consent, which was common practice in the United States at the time.
Cell biologist Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living and ...
George Otto Gey George Otto Gey ( ; July 6, 1899 – November 8, 1970) was the cell biology, cell biologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital who is credited with propagating the HeLa cell line from Henrietta Lacks' cervical tumor. He spent over 35 years developing num ...
found that they could be kept alive, and developed a
cell line An immortalised cell line is a population of cells from a multicellular organism which would normally not proliferate indefinitely but, due to mutation, have evaded normal cellular senescence and instead can keep undergoing division. The cell ...
. Previously, cells cultured from other human cells would only survive for a few days. Cells from Lacks's tumor behaved differently.


History


Origin

In 1951, a patient named
Henrietta Lacks Henrietta Lacks (born Loretta Pleasant; August 1, 1920 – October 4, 1951) Note: Some sources report her birthday as August 2, 1920, vs. August 1, 1920. was an African-American woman whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line ...
was admitted to the
Johns Hopkins Hospital The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. It was founded in 1889 using money from a bequest of over $7 million (1873 mo ...
with symptoms of irregular vaginal bleeding, and was subsequently treated for cervical cancer. Her first treatment was performed by Lawrence Wharton Jr., who at this time collected tissue samples from her cervix without her consent. Her cervical biopsy supplied samples of tissue for clinical evaluation and research by
George Otto Gey George Otto Gey ( ; July 6, 1899 – November 8, 1970) was the cell biology, cell biologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital who is credited with propagating the HeLa cell line from Henrietta Lacks' cervical tumor. He spent over 35 years developing num ...
, head of the Tissue Culture Laboratory, as was done with other surgical procedures. Gey's lab assistant Mary Kubicek used the roller-tube technique to place the cells into culture. It was observed that the cells grew robustly, doubling every 20–24 hours unlike previous specimens that died out. The cells were propagated by Gey shortly before Lacks died of her cancer in 1951. This was the first human cell line to prove successful
in vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning in glass, or ''in the glass'') studies are performed with microorganisms, cells, or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called "test-tube experiments", these studies in biology an ...
, which was a scientific achievement with profound future benefit to medical research. Gey freely donated these cells along with the tools and processes that his lab developed to any scientist requesting them simply for the benefit of science. Neither Lacks nor her family gave permission to harvest the cells but, at that time, permission was neither required nor customarily sought. The cells were later commercialized, although never patented in their original form. There was no requirement at that time to inform patients or their relatives about such matters because discarded material or material obtained during surgery, diagnosis, or therapy was the property of the physician or the medical institution. As was custom for Gey's lab assistant, the culture was named after the first two letters of the Henrietta Lacks's first and last name. Before a leak to the public in the 1970s which revealed her true name, the "HeLa" cell line was mistakenly believed to have been named after a "Helen Lane" or "Helen Larson". Other cell cultures were being invaded by suspected HeLa cells, so one research group contacted the Lacks family seeking DNA samples to help identify contaminating cell lines. The family never understood the purpose of the visit, but they were distressed by their understanding of what the researchers told them. These cells are treated as cancer cells, as they are descended from a biopsy taken from a visible lesion on the cervix as part of Lacks's diagnosis of cancer. HeLa cells, like other cell lines, are termed "
immortal Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life. Immortal or Immortality may also refer to: Film * ''The Immortals'' (1995 film), an American crime film * ''Immortality'', an alternate title for the 1998 British film '' The Wisdom of ...
" in that they can divide an unlimited number of times in a laboratory cell culture plate as long as fundamental cell survival conditions are met (i.e. being maintained and sustained in a suitable environment). There are many strains of HeLa cells as they continue to mutate in
cell culture Cell culture or tissue culture is the process by which cells are grown under controlled conditions, generally outside of their natural environment. The term "tissue culture" was coined by American pathologist Montrose Thomas Burrows. This te ...
s, but all HeLa cells are descended from the same tumor cells removed from Lacks. The total number of HeLa cells that have been propagated in cell culture far exceeds the total number of cells that were in Henrietta Lacks's body.


Controversy

Lacks's case is one of many examples of the lack of
informed consent Informed consent is a principle in medical ethics and medical law, that a patient must have sufficient information and understanding before making decisions about their medical care. Pertinent information may include risks and benefits of treatme ...
in 20th century medicine. Communication between tissue donors and doctors was virtually nonexistent (i.e. cells were taken without patient consent, nor were they told what the cells would be used for). Johns Hopkins Hospital, where Lacks received treatment and had her tissue harvested, was the only hospital in the Baltimore area where African American patients could receive free care. The patients receiving free care from this segregated sect of the hospital often became research subjects without their knowledge. Lacks's family also had no access to her patient files and had no say in who received HeLa cells or what they would be used for. Additionally, as HeLa cells were popularized and used more frequently throughout the scientific community, Lacks's relatives received no financial benefit and continued to live with limited access to healthcare. This issue of who owns tissue samples taken for research was brought up in the
Supreme Court of California The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...
case of ''
Moore v. Regents of the University of California ''Moore v. Regents of the University of California'' was a landmark Supreme Court of California decision. Filed on July 9, 1990, it dealt with the issue of property rights to one's own cells taken in samples by doctors or researchers. In 1976, J ...
''. The court ruled that a person's discarded tissue and cells are not his or her property and can be commercialized. Lacks's case influenced the establishment of the
Common Rule The Common Rule is a 1981 rule of ethics in the United States regarding biomedical and behavioral research involving human subjects. A significant revision became effective July 2018. It governed Institutional Review Boards for oversight of human ...
in 1981. The Common Rule enforces informed consent by ensuring that doctors inform patients if they plan to use any details of the patient's case in research and give them the choice of disclosing the details or not. Tissues connected to their donors' names are also strictly regulated under this rule, and samples are no longer named using donor initials, but rather by code numbers. To further resolve the issue of patient privacy, Johns Hopkins established a joint committee with the NIH and several of Lacks's family members to determine who receives access to Henrietta Lacks's genome. In 2021 Henrietta Lacks's estate sued to get past and future payments for the alleged unauthorized and widely known sale of HeLa cells by
Thermo Fisher Scientific Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is an American supplier of scientific instrumentation, reagents and consumables, and software services. Based in Waltham, Massachusetts, Thermo Fisher was formed through the merger of Thermo Electron and Fisher S ...
. Lacks's family hired an attorney to seek compensation from upwards of 100 pharmaceutical companies that have used and profited from HeLa cells.


Use in research

HeLa cells were the first human cells to be successfully cloned in 1953 by
Theodore Puck Theodore Thomas Puck (September 24, 1916 – November 6, 2005) was an American geneticist born in Chicago, Illinois. He attended Chicago public schools and obtained his bachelors, masters, and doctoral degree from the University of Chicago. His ...
and
Philip I. Marcus Philip I. Marcus (June 3, 1927 in Springfield, Massachusetts – September 1, 2013 in Farmington, Connecticut) was an American virologist and a leader in interferon research. From 2003 he was a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Molecul ...
at the University of Colorado, Denver. Since that time, HeLa cells have "continually been used for research into cancer, AIDS, the effects of radiation and toxic substances, gene mapping, and countless other scientific pursuits." According to author
Rebecca Skloot Rebecca L. Skloot (born September 19, 1972) is an American science writer who specializes in science and medicine.Jessica Teisch, "Floyd Skloot & Rebecca Skloot", in '' Bookmarks'', May/June 2010. Her first book, '' The Immortal Life of Henriet ...
, by 2009, "more than 60,000 scientific articles had been published about research done on HeLa, and that number was increasing steadily at a rate of more than 300 papers each month."


Polio eradication

HeLa cells were used by
Jonas Salk Jonas Edward Salk (; born Jonas Salk; October 28, 1914June 23, 1995) was an American virologist and medical researcher who developed one of the first successful polio vaccines. He was born in New York City and attended the City College of New Y ...
to test the first
polio vaccine Polio vaccines are vaccines used to prevent poliomyelitis (polio). Two types are used: an inactivated poliovirus given by injection (IPV) and a weakened poliovirus given by mouth (OPV). The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends all chil ...
in the 1950s. They were observed to be easily infected by
poliomyelitis Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe sym ...
, causing infected cells to die. This made HeLa cells highly desirable for polio vaccine testing since results could be easily obtained. A large volume of HeLa cells were needed for the testing of Salk's polio vaccine, prompting the
National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. The organization was founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to comba ...
(NFIP) to find a facility capable of mass-producing HeLa cells. In the spring of 1953, a cell culture factory was established at
Tuskegee University Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was d ...
to supply Salk and other labs with HeLa cells. Less than a year later, Salk's vaccine was ready for human trials.


Virology

HeLa cells have been used in testing how
parvovirus Parvoviruses are a family of animal viruses that constitute the family ''Parvoviridae''. They have linear, single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) genomes that typically contain two genes encoding for a replication initiator protein, called NS1, and the pr ...
infects cells of humans, dogs, and cats. These cells have also been used to study viruses such as the
oropouche virus ''Oropouche orthobunyavirus'' (OROV) is one of the most common orthobunyaviruses. When OROV infects humans, it causes a rapid fever illness called Oropouche fever. OROV was originally reported in Trinidad and Tobago in 1955 from the blood sample o ...
(OROV). OROV causes the disruption of cells in culture, where cells begin to degenerate shortly after they are infected, causing viral induction of apoptosis. HeLa cells have been used to study the expression of the
papillomavirus ''Papillomaviridae'' is a family of non- enveloped DNA viruses whose members are known as papillomaviruses. Several hundred species of papillomaviruses, traditionally referred to as "types", have been identified infecting all carefully inspected ...
E2 and apoptosis. HeLa cells have also been used to study
canine distemper Canine distemper virus (CDV) (sometimes termed footpad disease) is a viral disease that affects a wide variety of mammal families, including domestic and wild species of dogs, coyotes, foxes, pandas, wolves, ferrets, skunks, raccoons, and felin ...
virus' ability to induce
apoptosis Apoptosis (from grc, ἀπόπτωσις, apóptōsis, 'falling off') is a form of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms. Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes (morphology) and death. These changes incl ...
in cancer cell lines, which could play an important role in developing treatments for tumor cells resistant to radiation and chemotherapy. HeLa cells have also been instrumental in the development of
human papilloma virus Human papillomavirus infection (HPV infection) is caused by a DNA virus from the ''Papillomaviridae'' family. Many HPV infections cause no symptoms and 90% resolve spontaneously within two years. In some cases, an HPV infection persists and res ...
(HPV) vaccines. In the 1980s,
Harald zur Hausen Harald zur Hausen NAS EASA APS (; born 11 March 1936) is a German virologist and professor emeritus. He has done research on cervical cancer and discovered the role of papilloma viruses in cervical cancer, for which he received the Nobe ...
found that Lacks's cells from the original biopsy contained HPV-18, which was later found to be the cause of the aggressive cancer that killed Henrietta Lacks. His work in linking HPV with cervical cancer won him a Nobel Prize and led to the development of HPV vaccines that are predicted to reduce the number of deaths from cervical cancer by 70%. Over the years, HeLa cells have been infected with various types of viruses including HIV, Zika, herpes, and mumps to test and develop new vaccines and drugs. Dr. Richard Axel discovered that by adding the CD4 protein to HeLa cells, they were able to be infected with HIV, allowing the virus to be studied. In 1979, scientists learned that the measles virus constantly mutates when it infects HeLa cells and in 2019, found that Zika cannot multiply in HeLa cells.


Cancer

HeLa cells have been used in a number of cancer studies, including those involving sex steroid hormones such as
estradiol Estradiol (E2), also spelled oestradiol, is an estrogen steroid hormone and the major female sex hormone. It is involved in the regulation of the estrous and menstrual female reproductive cycles. Estradiol is responsible for the development of f ...
,
estrogen Estrogen or oestrogen is a category of sex hormone responsible for the development and regulation of the female reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics. There are three major endogenous estrogens that have estrogenic hormonal acti ...
, and
estrogen receptor Estrogen receptors (ERs) are a group of proteins found inside cells. They are receptors that are activated by the hormone estrogen ( 17β-estradiol). Two classes of ER exist: nuclear estrogen receptors (ERα and ERβ), which are members of the ...
s, along with estrogen-like compounds such as
quercetin Quercetin is a plant flavonol from the flavonoid group of polyphenols. It is found in many fruits, vegetables, leaves, seeds, and grains; capers, red onions, and kale are common foods containing appreciable amounts of it. It has a bitter flavor a ...
and its cancer-reducing properties. There have also been studies on HeLa cells, the effects of flavonoids and antioxidants with estradiol on cancer cell proliferation. In 2011, HeLa cells were used in tests of novel
heptamethine dyes Heptamethine dyes are a subclass of chemical compounds within the cyanine dye family and have many uses as fluorescent dyes, particularly in biomedical imaging, the development of theranostics, the individualized treatment of cancerous patients with ...
IR-808 and other analogs which are currently being explored for their unique uses in medical diagnostics, the development of
theranostics Personalized medicine, also referred to as precision medicine, is a medical model that separates people into different groups—with medical decisions, practices, interventions and/or products being tailored to the individual patient based on thei ...
, the individualized treatment of cancer patients with the aid of PDT, co-administration with other drugs, and
irradiation Irradiation is the process by which an object is exposed to radiation. The exposure can originate from various sources, including natural sources. Most frequently the term refers to ionizing radiation, and to a level of radiation that will serve ...
. HeLa cells have been used in research involving
fullerenes A fullerene is an allotrope of carbon whose molecule consists of carbon atoms connected by single and double bonds so as to form a closed or partially closed mesh, with fused rings of five to seven atoms. The molecule may be a hollow sphere, ...
to induce apoptosis as a part of
photodynamic therapy Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a form of phototherapy involving light and a photosensitizing chemical substance, used in conjunction with molecular oxygen to elicit cell death (phototoxicity). PDT is popularly used in treating acne. It is used cl ...
, as well as in ''in vitro'' cancer research using cell lines. Further HeLa cells have also been used to define cancer markers in RNA, and have been used to establish an RNAi Based Identification System and Interference of Specific Cancer Cells. HeLa was shown in 2014 to be a viable cell line for tumor
xenografts Xenotransplantation (''xenos-'' from the Greek meaning "foreign" or strange), or heterologous transplant, is the transplantation of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another. Such cells, tissues or organs are called xenograft ...
in
C57BL/6 C57BL/6, often referred to as "C57 black 6", "C57" or "black 6", is a common inbred strain of laboratory mouse. It is the most widely used "genetic background" for genetically modified mice for use as models of human disease. They are the most wid ...
nude mice, and was subsequently used to examine the ''in vivo'' effects of
fluoxetine Fluoxetine, sold under the brand names Prozac and Sarafem, among others, is an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class. It is used for the treatment of major depressive disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorde ...
and
cisplatin Cisplatin is a chemotherapy medication used to treat a number of cancers. These include testicular cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer, bladder cancer, head and neck cancer, esophageal cancer, lung cancer, mesothelioma, br ...
on cervical cancer.


Genetics

In 1953, a lab mistake involving mixing HeLa cells with the wrong liquid allowed researchers to see and count each chromosome clearly in the HeLa cells they were working with for the first time. The accidental discovery led scientists
Joe Hin Tjio Joe Hin Tjio (2 November 1919 – 27 November 2001), was an Indonesian-born American cytogeneticist. He was renowned as the first person to recognize the normal number of human chromosomes on December 22, 1955 at the Institute of Genetics of the ...
and
Albert Levan Albert Levan (8 March 1905 – 28 March 1998) was a Swedish botanist and geneticist. Albert Levan is best known today for co-authoring the report in 1956 that humans had forty-six chromosomes (instead of forty-eight, as previously believed). Thi ...
to develop better techniques for staining and counting chromosomes. They were the first to accurately describe that humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes rather than 24, as was previously believed. This was important for the study of developmental disorders such as
Down syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...
that involved the number of chromosomes. In 1965, Henry Harris and John Watkins created the first human-animal hybrid by fusing HeLa cells with mouse embryo cells. This enabled advancements in mapping genes to specific chromosomes, which would eventually lead to the
Human Genome Project The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international scientific research project with the goal of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA, and of identifying, mapping and sequencing all of the genes of the human genome from both a ...
.


Space microbiology

In the 1960s, HeLa cells were sent on the Soviet satellite Sputnik-6 and human space missions to determine the long term effects of space travel on living cells and tissue. Scientists discovered that HeLa cells divided even more quickly in zero gravity.


Analysis


Telomerase

The HeLa
cell line An immortalised cell line is a population of cells from a multicellular organism which would normally not proliferate indefinitely but, due to mutation, have evaded normal cellular senescence and instead can keep undergoing division. The cell ...
was derived for use in
cancer research Cancer research is research into cancer to identify causes and develop strategies for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure. Cancer research ranges from epidemiology, molecular bioscience to the performance of clinical trials to evaluate and ...
. These cells proliferate abnormally rapidly, even compared to other cancer cells. Like many other cancer cells, HeLa cells have an active version of
telomerase Telomerase, also called terminal transferase, is a ribonucleoprotein that adds a species-dependent telomere repeat sequence to the 3' end of telomeres. A telomere is a region of repetitive sequences at each end of the chromosomes of most euka ...
during cell division, which copies telomeres over and over again. This prevents the incremental shortening of
telomere A telomere (; ) is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences associated with specialized proteins at the ends of linear chromosomes. Although there are different architectures, telomeres, in a broad sense, are a widespread genetic feature mos ...
s that is implicated in aging and eventual cell death. In this way, the cells circumvent the Hayflick limit, which is the limited number of cell divisions that most normal cells can undergo before becoming
senescent Senescence () or biological aging is the gradual deterioration of functional characteristics in living organisms. The word ''senescence'' can refer to either cellular senescence or to senescence of the whole organism. Organismal senescence inv ...
. The result is unlimited cell division and immortality.


Chromosome number

Horizontal gene transfer Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) or lateral gene transfer (LGT) is the movement of genetic material between Unicellular organism, unicellular and/or multicellular organisms other than by the ("vertical") transmission of DNA from parent to offsprin ...
from
human papillomavirus Human papillomavirus infection (HPV infection) is caused by a DNA virus from the ''Papillomaviridae'' family. Many HPV infections cause no symptoms and 90% resolve spontaneously within two years. In some cases, an HPV infection persists and res ...
 18 (HPV18) to
human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
cervical cells created the HeLa genome, which is different from Henrietta Lacks's genome in various ways, including its number of chromosomes. HeLa cells are rapidly dividing cancer cells, and the number of chromosomes varied during cancer formation and cell culture. The current estimate (excluding very tiny fragments) is a "hypertriploid chromosome number (3n+)" which means 76 to 80 total chromosomes (rather than the normal diploid number of 46) with 22–25 clonally abnormal chromosomes, known as "HeLa signature chromosomes". The signature chromosomes can be derived from multiple original chromosomes, making challenging summary counts based on original numbering. Researchers have also noted how stable these aberrant
karyotype A karyotype is the general appearance of the complete set of metaphase chromosomes in the cells of a species or in an individual organism, mainly including their sizes, numbers, and shapes. Karyotyping is the process by which a karyotype is disce ...
s can be. Studies that combined spectral karyotyping,
FISH Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
, and conventional cytogenic techniques revealed that the detected chromosomal aberrations may be representative of advanced cervical carcinomas and have likely been present in the primary tumor, since the HeLa genome has remained stable even after years of continued cultivation.


Complete genome sequence

The complete
genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ge ...
of the HeLa cells was
sequenced In genetics and biochemistry, sequencing means to determine the primary structure (sometimes incorrectly called the primary sequence) of an unbranched biopolymer. Sequencing results in a symbolic linear depiction known as a sequence which suc ...
and published on 11 March 2013 without the Lacks family's knowledge. Concerns were raised by the family, so the authors voluntarily withheld access to the sequence data.
Jay Shendure Jay Shendure is an American scientist and human geneticist at the University of Washington. He is a professor in the Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine and an Affiliate Investigator in the Human Biolo ...
led a HeLa sequencing project at the University of Washington which produced a paper that had been accepted for publication in March 2013 – but that was also put on hold while the Lacks family's privacy concerns were being addressed. On August 7, 2013,
NIH The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
director
Francis Collins Francis Sellers Collins (born April 14, 1950) is an American physician-geneticist who discovered the genes associated with a number of diseases and led the Human Genome Project. He is the former director of the National Institutes of Health ( ...
announced a policy of controlled access to the cell line genome based on an agreement reached after three meetings with the Lacks family. A data-access committee will review requests from researchers for access to the genome sequence under the criteria that the study is for medical research and the users will abide by terms in the HeLa Genome Data Use Agreement, which includes that all NIH-funded researchers will deposit the data into a single database for future sharing. The committee consists of six members including representatives from the medical, scientific, and bioethics fields, as well as two members of the Lacks family. In an interview, Collins praised the Lacks family's willingness to participate in this situation that was thrust upon them. He described the whole experience with them as "powerful", saying that it brought together "science, scientific history and ethical concerns" in a unique way.


Contamination

HeLa cells are sometimes difficult to control because of their adaptation to growth in tissue culture plates and ability to invade and outcompete other cell lines. Through improper maintenance, they have been known to contaminate other cell cultures in the same laboratory, interfering with biological research and forcing researchers to declare many results invalid. The degree of HeLa cell contamination among other cell types is unknown because few researchers test the identity or purity of already established cell lines. It has been demonstrated that a substantial fraction of ''
in vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning in glass, or ''in the glass'') studies are performed with microorganisms, cells, or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called "test-tube experiments", these studies in biology an ...
'' cell lines are contaminated with HeLa cells; estimates range from 10% to 20%. Stanley Gartler (1967) and Walter Nelson-Rees (1975) were the first to publish on the contamination of various cell lines by HeLa. Gartler noted that "With the continued expansion of cell culture technology, it is almost certain that both interspecific and intraspecific contamination will occur." HeLa cell contamination has become a pervasive worldwide problem – affecting even the laboratories of many notable physicians, scientists, and researchers, including
Jonas Salk Jonas Edward Salk (; born Jonas Salk; October 28, 1914June 23, 1995) was an American virologist and medical researcher who developed one of the first successful polio vaccines. He was born in New York City and attended the City College of New Y ...
. The HeLa contamination problem also contributed to
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
tensions. The USSR and the USA had begun to cooperate in the
war on cancer The "war on cancer" is the effort to find a cure for cancer by increased research to improve the understanding of cancer biology and the development of more effective cancer treatments, such as targeted drug therapies. The aim of such efforts is t ...
launched by President
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
, only to find that the exchanged cells were contaminated by HeLa. Rather than focus on how to resolve the problem of HeLa cell contamination, many scientists and science writers continue to document this problem as simply a contamination issue – caused not by human error or shortcomings but by the hardiness, proliferating, or overpowering nature of HeLa. Recent data suggest that cross-contaminations are still a major ongoing problem with modern cell cultures. The International Cell Line Authentication Committee (ICLAC) notes that many cases of cell line misidentification are the result of cross-contamination of the culture by another faster growing cell line. This calls into question the validity of the research done using the contaminated cell lines, as certain attributes of the contaminant, which may come from an entirely different species or tissue, may be misattributed to the cell line under investigation.


New species proposal

HeLa was described by
evolutionary biologist Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes (natural selection, common descent, speciation) that produced the diversity of life on Earth. It is also defined as the study of the history of life for ...
Leigh Van Valen Leigh Van Valen (August 12, 1935 – October 16, 2010) was a U.S. evolutionary biologist. At the time of his death, he was professor emeritus in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago. Research and interests Amongs ...
as an example of the contemporary creation of a new species, dubbed ''Helacyton gartleri'', due to their ability to replicate indefinitely, and their non-human number of
chromosomes A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...
. The species was named after geneticist Stanley M. Gartler, whom van Valen credits with discovering "the remarkable success of this species". His argument for speciation depends on these points: *The chromosomal incompatibility of HeLa cells with humans. *The
ecological niche In ecology, a niche is the match of a species to a specific environmental condition. Three variants of ecological niche are described by It describes how an organism or population responds to the distribution of resources and competitors (for ...
of HeLa cells. *Their ability to persist and expand well beyond the desires of human cultivators. *HeLa can be defined as a species as it has its own clonal
karyotype A karyotype is the general appearance of the complete set of metaphase chromosomes in the cells of a species or in an individual organism, mainly including their sizes, numbers, and shapes. Karyotyping is the process by which a karyotype is disce ...
. Van Valen proposed the new family Helacytidae and the genus ''Helacyton'', as well as proposing a new species for HeLa cells in the same paper. However, this proposal has not been taken seriously by other prominent evolutionary biologists, nor by scientists in other disciplines. Van Valen's argument of HeLa being a new species does not fulfill the criteria for an independent unicellular asexually reproducing species because of the notorious instability of HeLa's karyotype and their lack of a strict ancestral-descendant lineage.


Gallery

File:HeLa-II.jpg, Multiphoton fluorescence image of HeLa cells stained with the actin binding toxin phalloidin (red), microtubules (cyan) and cell nuclei (blue). Nikon RTS2000MP custom laser scanning microscope. File:HeLa-III.jpg, Multiphoton fluorescence image of HeLa cells with cytoskeletal microtubules (magenta) and DNA (cyan). Nikon RTS2000MP custom laser scanning microscope. File:HeLa-V.jpg, Scanning electron micrograph of just-divided HeLa cells. Zeiss Merlin HR-SEM. File:HeLa cells stained with Hoechst 33258.jpg, HeLa cells stained with
Hoechst 33258 Hoechst stains are part of a family of blue fluorescent dyes used to stain DNA. These bis-benzimides were originally developed by Hoechst AG, which numbered all their compounds so that the dye Hoechst 33342 is the 33,342nd compound made by the c ...
File:Ki67-Tubulin-2.jpg, HeLa cells grown in culture and stained with antibody to
tubulin Tubulin in molecular biology can refer either to the tubulin protein superfamily of globular proteins, or one of the member proteins of that superfamily. α- and β-tubulins polymerize into microtubules, a major component of the eukaryotic cytoske ...
(green), antibody to Ki-67 (red) and the blue DNA binding dye DAPI. The tubulin antibody shows the distribution of
microtubules Microtubules are polymers of tubulin that form part of the cytoskeleton and provide structure and shape to eukaryotic cells. Microtubules can be as long as 50 micrometres, as wide as 23 to 27  nm and have an inner diameter between 11 an ...
and the Ki-67 antibody is expressed in cells about to divide. Preparation, antibodies and image courtesy of
EnCor Biotechnology EnCor Biotechnology is a United States company that manufactures monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies with a focus on reagents targeting neural proteins. EnCor was founded in 1999 as a spin-off from the University of Florida by Gerry Shaw, a ...
. File:Nuclear envelope of one cancerous HeLa cell.png, A volumetric surface render (red) of the
nuclear envelope The nuclear envelope, also known as the nuclear membrane, is made up of two lipid bilayer membranes that in eukaryotic cells surround the nucleus, which encloses the genetic material. The nuclear envelope consists of two lipid bilayer membrane ...
of one HeLa cell. The cell was observed in 300 slices of
electron microscopy An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of accelerated electrons as a source of illumination. As the wavelength of an electron can be up to 100,000 times shorter than that of visible light photons, electron microscopes have a hi ...
, the nuclear envelope was automatically segmented and rendered. One vertical and one horizontal slice are added for reference. File:Plasma Membrane and Nuclear Envelope.gif, Plasma Membrane and Nuclear Envelope of one Hela Cell displayed as a volumetric surface rendering. Left and centre show the plasma membrane in blue colour with transparency and the nuclear envelope with a solid cyan colour. Right show the plasma membrane without transparency and the same angle of view as the centre. The membranes have been segmented from data acquired with Electron Microscopy.


In media

*The 1997 documentary ''
The Way of All Flesh ''The Way of All Flesh'' (sometimes called ''Ernest Pontifex, or the Way of All Flesh'') is a semi-autobiographical novel by Samuel Butler that attacks Victorian-era hypocrisy. Written between 1873 and 1884, it traces four generations of the ...
'' by
Adam Curtis Adam Curtis (born 26 May 1955) is an English documentary filmmaker. Curtis began his career as a conventional documentary producer for the BBC throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s. The release of ''Pandora's Box (British TV series), ...
explains the history of HeLa and its implications in medicine and society. *A 2010 episode of
Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...
"Immortal" was heavily based on the story of Henrietta Lacks and the HeLa line, using the fictional "NaRo" cells as a stand-in. *The story of how the HeLa line came to be was also the subject of a 2010 episode of the podcast
Radiolab ''Radiolab'' is a radio program produced by WNYC, a public radio station in New York City, and broadcast on public radio stations in the United States. The show is nationally syndicated and is available as a podcast. Live shows were first offe ...
. *HeLa was the subject of a 2010 book by
Rebecca Skloot Rebecca L. Skloot (born September 19, 1972) is an American science writer who specializes in science and medicine.Jessica Teisch, "Floyd Skloot & Rebecca Skloot", in '' Bookmarks'', May/June 2010. Her first book, '' The Immortal Life of Henriet ...
, '' The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks'', investigating the historical context of the cell line and how the Lacks family was involved in its use. **A 2017 HBO film, '' The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks'' was based on the book. The film stars
Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...
,
Sylvia Grace Crim Sylvia may refer to: People *Sylvia (given name) *Sylvia (singer), American country music and country pop singer and songwriter *Sylvia Robinson, American singer, record producer, and record label executive * Sylvia Vrethammar, Swedish singer cred ...
,
Rocky Carroll Roscoe "Rocky" Carroll (born July 8, 1963) is an American actor and director. He is known for his roles as Joey Emerson on the Fox comedy-drama '' Roc'' (1991–94), as Dr. Keith Wilkes on the CBS medical drama ''Chicago Hope'', and as NCIS Direc ...
and Renee Elise Goldsberry as Henrietta Lacks. Author Rebecca Skloot also appears as a character in the film, portrayed by
Rose Byrne Mary Rose Byrne (born 24 July 1979) is an Australian actress. She made her screen debut in the film ''Dallas Doll'' (1994), and continued to act in Australian film and television throughout the 1990s. She obtained her first leading film role i ...
.


See also

*
Clonally transmissible cancer A transmissible cancer is a cancer cell or cluster of cancer cells that can be transferred between individuals without the involvement of an infectious agent, such as an oncovirus. Transmission of cancer between humans is rare. The evolution of tra ...
*''
Moore v. Regents of the University of California ''Moore v. Regents of the University of California'' was a landmark Supreme Court of California decision. Filed on July 9, 1990, it dealt with the issue of property rights to one's own cells taken in samples by doctors or researchers. In 1976, J ...
'', case that set precedent for discarded tissue *
List of contaminated cell lines Many cell lines that are widely used for biomedical research have been overgrown by other, more aggressive cells. For example, supposed thyroid lines were actually melanoma cells, supposed prostate tissue was actually bladder cancer, and supposed n ...
*
WI-38 WI-38 is a diploid human cell line composed of fibroblasts derived from lung tissue of a 3-month-gestation female fetus. The fetus came from the elective abortion of a Swedish woman in 1963. She was disinterested in the fate of the fetus and its s ...


References


Further reading

* *


External links


HeLa (CCL-2 Cells)
in the ATCC database *
HeLa Transfection and Selection Data for HeLa Cells
*
Rebecca Skloot Rebecca L. Skloot (born September 19, 1972) is an American science writer who specializes in science and medicine.Jessica Teisch, "Floyd Skloot & Rebecca Skloot", in '' Bookmarks'', May/June 2010. Her first book, '' The Immortal Life of Henriet ...

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
book website with additional features (photo/video/audio)
The Henrietta Lacks Foundation
a foundation established to, among other things, help provide scholarship funds and health insurance to Henrietta Lacks's family. *
Rebecca Skloot Rebecca L. Skloot (born September 19, 1972) is an American science writer who specializes in science and medicine.Jessica Teisch, "Floyd Skloot & Rebecca Skloot", in '' Bookmarks'', May/June 2010. Her first book, '' The Immortal Life of Henriet ...

Cells That Save Lives are a Mother's Legacy
New York Times
"Wonder Woman: The Life, Death, and Life After Death of Henrietta Lacks, Unwitting Heroine of Modern Medical Science"
by Van Smith

by Anne Enright
"Culturing Life: How Cells Became Technologies"
a book by
Hannah Landecker Hannah L. Landecker (born 1969) is an Australian author and academic working as a professor of sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles and the UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics. Education Landecker earned a Bachelor of Sci ...
about HeLa and the history of tissue culture.
Discussion about the taxonomic effect of creating the new taxon ''Helacyton''.Cell Centered Database – HeLa cellAudio Interview with Rebecca Skloot about her book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks"Cellosaurus entry for HeLa
{{Organisms et al. Human cell lines Bioethics Johns Hopkins Hospital Cellular senescence 1951 in biotechnology