Henrietta Lacks and the miracle of cellular immortality

For most people, the concept of eternity includes not only immortality but also the ability to leave “pieces” of oneself to future generations, as in genetic inheritance. But, In the case of Henrietta Lacks, she was able to contribute in some way to the continuity of the biological self on both fronts..

Alongside his descendants, Lacks inadvertently left behind a collection of immortal cells that have contributed to every field of scientific research for 73 years. These cell lines have already been to space, to the bottom of the sea, exposed to extreme radiation and tested from every angle.

Moreover, the contribution is not only in the field of science. Because of Lacks’ story, experimental policies and consent rules for the use of biological material, among other bioethical concepts, have been considered and reformulated in the field of research ethics.

Keeping this in mind, Learn a little about Henrietta Lacks’ story of cellular immortality and the fundamental contributions of his cells to modern science.

Woman with the nickname HeLa

Henrietta Lacks was a black woman born in 1920 in Roanoke, United States. According to reports, she was a happy and self-satisfied woman and had five children. At the age of 31, he began to notice some symptoms of his illness that signaled the end of his life and the beginning of a family saga.

In 1950, a time of racial segregation, Johns Hopkins Hospital was one of the only healthcare institutions providing care to the black population. Deficiencies were treated in hospital and diagnosed in a short time. With cervical cancer, also called cervical cancer.

He was treated with radiotherapy drugs, but his cancer was very aggressive and did not respond to any of the available and tried treatment options to destroy the cancer cells.

Because of these characteristics, doctors collected a sample from the tumor without Lacks’ knowledge and sent it to the laboratory of researcher George Otto Gey, a cellular biologist and researcher in virology and oncology at Johns Hopkins. This was the discovery of his life.

The tumor cells had a unique behavior and grew and proliferated smoothly. The samples were able to reproduce and survive so efficiently that Gey considered them immortal..

But the cellular immortality of Lacks’ tumor was not reciprocal in other cells of his body. In October 1951, Henrietta died, unaware that she had left an unprecedented legacy for science and medicine.

But ultimately what are they and why is the HeLa lineage so revered?

HeLa cells are cell lines propagated in the laboratory from samples taken from Lacks tumor in 1950. They are not actually immortal, but they have the surprising ability to replicate themselves every 24 hours in cell culture processes..

Moreover, they are resistant enough to survive for a long time and do not naturally undergo additional mutations for years. They are therefore perfect clones of the original mutation that caused Lacks’ cancer and are therefore considered immortal.

After Gey isolated and cultured Henrietta’s tumor cells, they grew and proliferated to the point that they could be sold, donated, and used in any way possible because they were simple and inexpensive to grow.

Its first prominent use was: As Professor Dulci Vagenas explains, in the development of the polio vaccinebiologist, assistant coordinator of the Biological Sciences course and professor of medicine at Universidade Paulista’s Alphaville Campus (UNIP), in an interview with TecMundo.

HeLa cells easily caught the polio virus and died. They were therefore excellent test targets for the development of a drug that could prevent their infection and death. The first tests were conducted by Jonas Salk in 1953, and the following year the product was ready for human testing.

More recently contributed To develop a vaccine against Covid-19and is still widely used for the development and testing of a wide variety of research fields.

HeLa cells have already been launched into space on manned missions, irradiated, infected with a wide variety of pathogens, and served as heroes in the research and development of treatments and forms of prevention against Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). They tried to figure out how they could sustain themselves. In vitro fertilization technology also comes from testing with HeLa.

The ability of these cells to stay young, Vagenas explains It may be linked to the hyper telomerase present in all HeLa, meaning that the proliferations do not lose quality and do not age.

Moreover, the mutagenic configuration of HeLa occurred in such a way that it did not inhibit replication in any way; therefore, when replication occurs abnormally, cells are incapable of carrying out apoptosis, which is the programmed death of the cell. Doctor defines Professor. This whole set of factors makes these cells very valuable for the development of science and technology.

There are currently other cell lines that mimic the behavior of Lacks cells, but these have come to fill the hall of possibilities for experiments and not to replace them in studies.

Actually, Halting experiments with HeLa is part of a broader debate in bioethicsBecause Henrietta was an “involuntary donor” and her family was not even consulted or had any knowledge of cell culture.

This debate has led to the development of more assertive and less tolerant policies regarding the field of testing in the United States, to prevent new “involuntary donations” from occurring, and to provide individuals with access to their own bodies, genetic material, factors related to the cause.

But until that moment comes, Henrietta still has a long way to contribute.

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