An immortal cell line and reparation, 70 years later

Subject: Science Technology

Section: Biotechnology

Context:

The U.S. biotech company Thermo Fisher Scientific came to an agreement with the family of Henrietta Lacks after 70 years, whose cancer cells were removed from her without her permission when under treatment in a hospital in Maryland.

HeLa Cells:

The cells taken from Henrietta Lacks went on to become an immortalised cell line called HeLa (for Henrietta Lacks) used in scientific research.
- HeLa cells were the first human cells to be successfully cloned in 1953 by Theodore Puck and Philip I. Marcus at the University of Colorado, Denver, and since then, HeLa cells have “continually been used for research”.
- The cells have been instrumental in at least three Nobel-prizewinning discoveries.
- It is said that in the 1960s, HeLa cells that were taken on space missions to study the effects of space travel on living cells and tissue, divided even more quickly in zero gravity.

Why a compensation now?

It is reportedly the most commonly used cell line across the world, and yet neither the patient, a 31- year old poor, African American woman, nor her family were acknowledged or compensated for the contribution.
The cells were taken from the patient, without her consent, when she was under treatment for cervical cancer.

Cell culture:

Cell culture is the process by which cells are grown in a petridish, in a lab in controlled conditions, outside of their natural environment.
- These cells are used in critical and path breaking scientific research to develop drugs, vaccines (polio), study the effects of radiation, how pathogens affect humans, gene mapping etc.
Usually cells cultured in the lab from human cells could be kept alive for only a few days, subject to the phenomenon of cellular senescence, or the cessation of cell division.
However, Henrietta Lacks’ cells allowed scientists to create an immortalized cell line.
- An immortalized cell line is a population of cells from which would normally not proliferate indefinitely but, due to mutations, has achieved the ability to keep on dividing, never reaching the point of senescence.
It was observed that the cells doubled every 20–24 hours unlike previous specimens that died out.